Penn, BioNTech Launch $50M Fund to Fuel Next-Gen Biotech

PHILADELPHIA, PA – January 09, 2026 – The University of Pennsylvania, German biotech giant BioNTech, and venture capital firm Osage University Partners (OUP) have officially launched a $50 million fund aimed at supercharging the translation of groundbreaking academic research into life-saving medical treatments. The new Penn-BioNTech Innovative Therapeutics Seed Fund, or "PxB Fund," will provide critical early-stage capital to life science startups emerging from Penn's world-renowned laboratories.

The collaboration seeks to build upon a decade of unprecedented innovation at the university, which has seen its research contribute to 45 FDA approvals, including the foundational mRNA technology behind COVID-19 vaccines and the first-ever approved CAR T cell therapies for cancer. This dedicated fund is designed to bridge the perilous gap between laboratory discovery and commercial viability, ensuring the next wave of medical breakthroughs has the resources to reach patients worldwide.

An Engine for Early-Stage Innovation

The PxB Fund will focus on seed and Series A investments in companies developing novel therapeutics, advanced diagnostics, and cutting-edge research tools, including platforms that leverage artificial intelligence for drug discovery. By providing capital at the earliest stages of company formation, the fund aims to accelerate the development of high-potential science originating from Penn's faculty and researchers.

Management of the $50 million fund will be handled by OUP, a Philadelphia-based venture firm with deep expertise in commercializing academic research. With over $800 million under management, OUP has a portfolio of more than 150 university spin-outs, including over a decade of experience investing in more than 10 startups from Penn's ecosystem.

"We have been a partner of Penn and have worked closely with the Penn Center for Innovation (PCI) over many years to promote the Penn entrepreneurial ecosystem," said Marc Singer, Managing Partner of OUP. "Through the PxB Fund, and with access to BioNTech’s insights, we intend to invest in the next generation of Penn innovations to translate breakthrough science into medicines that can improve patients’ lives.”

Leading the fund's investment strategy is newly appointed General Partner, Dr. Anna Turetsky. A Penn alumna herself, Dr. Turetsky brings a decade of experience as a biotech investor. After earning a PhD in Biophysics from Harvard, she began her career at Lightstone Ventures before launching and leading the venture arm for the oncology-focused Mark Foundation. Her work there included a successful investment collaboration with Penn on the startup Interius BioTherapeutics, giving her direct experience with the university's commercialization pipeline.

Building on a Legacy of Breakthroughs

The establishment of the PxB Fund is a direct reflection of Penn's stature as a global leader in biomedical innovation. The university's research has become a reliable wellspring of transformative therapies, a claim powerfully substantiated by the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine awarded to Penn's own Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman. Their pioneering discoveries on how to modify mRNA to avoid inflammatory responses were the critical breakthrough that enabled the rapid development of mRNA vaccines by companies like BioNTech and Moderna.

Beyond mRNA, Penn is widely recognized as the birthplace of CAR T cell therapy, a revolutionary immunotherapy that engineers a patient's own T cells to fight cancer. This research, led by Dr. Carl June, resulted in the first-ever FDA approval for a personalized cellular therapy in 2017. Since then, Penn's innovation ecosystem, managed by the Penn Center for Innovation (PCI), has flourished. Over the last decade, PCI has helped form over 300 startups, which have collectively raised more than $7.5 billion in funding.

"Penn’s mission is not only to perform groundbreaking research and generate and disseminate new knowledge, but to ensure that the fruits of those efforts are translated into real-world solutions,” stated Dr. John S. Swartley, Penn's Chief Innovation Officer. He described the new fund as a "major step forward for Penn’s innovation ecosystem and a real boon for patients," enabling the university to "move faster and more intentionally" to support its researchers.

A Strategic Blueprint for Biotech Investment

For the partners, the PxB Fund represents a highly strategic, synergistic model for advancing biotechnology. For BioNTech, the company that successfully co-developed the first approved mRNA COVID-19 vaccine with Pfizer, the fund deepens a long-standing relationship with Penn. The two institutions initiated a strategic research collaboration in 2018 to develop mRNA vaccine candidates for various infectious diseases.

This new venture provides BioNTech with a direct line of sight into a pipeline of emerging therapeutic approaches across a wide range of technologies, from next-generation immunotherapies to AI-driven discovery platforms. It aligns perfectly with the company's strategy of leveraging world-class partnerships to fuel its R&D engine.

“By partnering with Penn and OUP on this fund, we will have the opportunity to support the next wave of scientific breakthroughs coming out of the university,” said James Ryan, Ph.D., Chief Business Officer at BioNTech.

For OUP, the fund solidifies its position as a premier venture partner for academic institutions. By managing a dedicated, institution-specific fund backed by a major industry player, OUP can apply its specialized expertise more directly, nurturing companies from their inception. This model is part of a growing trend where universities and industry move beyond one-off licensing deals toward creating integrated ecosystems that share risk and reward to accelerate innovation.

Fueling Philadelphia's 'Cellicon Valley'

The launch of the PxB Fund also delivers a significant boost to the Philadelphia region's burgeoning reputation as a global life sciences hub, often dubbed 'Cellicon Valley' for its concentration of cell and gene therapy expertise. By providing crucial seed capital, the fund helps ensure that Penn's most promising discoveries can grow into companies that remain in the area, attracting further investment and top-tier scientific talent.

The involvement of Philadelphia-based OUP reinforces this local commitment. Unlike broader, multi-university venture funds, the PxB Fund's exclusive focus on Penn creates a concentrated stream of capital and expertise aimed directly at strengthening the local biotech ecosystem. This initiative complements other local programs, including Penn's own StartUP Fund, creating a multi-layered support system for entrepreneurs.

This partnership between a top-tier research university, a global biotech leader, and a specialized venture firm provides a powerful new template for commercializing science. As the PxB Fund begins to deploy its capital, it is poised not only to cultivate the next generation of medical treatments but also to further cement Philadelphia's status as a critical center for health innovation.