Not Just Another Success Story

Do the names Uğur and Özlem ring any bells?

No they are not your neighbours with the annoying dogs that bark all night. No they are nothing to do with the Village Restaurant in Islamlar. Nope, not the new dentists near Migros Jet (although you are getting fractionally warmer). Let me give you another clue, their full names: Uğur Şahın and Özlem Türeci.

Well done. You got it. They are the Turkish couple behind BioNTech, the company that, in partnership with American pharma company Pfizer have developed the first COVID 19 vaccine to come to market. And it is the UK that has got off the starting blocks first by approving it for use before any other country.

So the interesting times in which we are living (as in the Chinese curse ‘May you live in interesting times’) are just about to get a whole lot more interesting. There are many countries with skin in this particular game (a peculiarly appropriate expression in this instance); the Brits have a partnership between Oxford University and AstraZeneca which is close to approval. It first has to work out why a group that was accidentally given a half dose in initial trials showed better immunity than those given the full dose. The Chinese, the Russian and the Turkish government have also got products in development.

There is a whole lotta loot swilling around, which always means the party is going to go with a swing.

But let’s get back to Uğur and Özlem, our Turkish married couple. I should really say German Turkish couple, because they are probably more Deutsch than Türk. Uğur moved to Germany from Iskenderum at the age of 4 but Özlem was born in Germany, where her father was a doctor.

If you are needing a shot of self esteem at the moment, struggling with a sense of inadequacy, haunted by a feeling that you have not achieved much in your six or seven decades as an earthling, turn away now. You do not want to know about the lives and work of our German Turkish scientific superstars.

They founded their first company in 2001 which pioneered precision antibody therapies against cancer.  They sold it to Japanese pharma company Astellas for €1.4bn in 2016. They founded their second company BioNTech in 2008 to develop immunotherapy cancer treatments. Professor Uğur Şahın is CEO and wife Dr Özlem Türeci is Chief Medical Officer of the company which now employs some 1,300 people.

How are you doing btw?

Şahin says he first read about Covid-19 in the Lancet on Friday 24 January 2020: the following Monday he summoned his employees and informed them that the company would switch to finding a coronavirus vaccine.

Ten months later the UK is set to take first delivery of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine next week. BioNTech’s current stock valuation is currently around €19bn. Now what have I done this year? Ah yes the pond for a start..

If your self esteem is needing a bit of immunotherapy in the shape of reasons to dislike this pair of stellar achievers, good luck with your search; the two live in a modest apartment with their daughter near the office, cycle to work and do not own a car. On their wedding day they returned to the lab in the afternoon. So no 1000 people shindigs with fireworks at the local otogar then.

Oh the pain! Nothing to even dislike about this saintly couple whose achievements seem to be in inverse proportion to their egos. Can somebody please dig some dirt so we can all feel better about getting back to our sofas! Go to work trolls.

I wonder how Our President feels about them. He will find them less comfortable Turkish heroes than devout Muslim Mesut Özil, the German Turkish footballer at whose wedding president Erdoğan was best man. They do not even drive a Mercedes. What is the matter with them? And their best friend is a Greek!

The couple may not even be practising Muslim. Scientists are way less likely to believe in God than the rest of the population according to research such as that carried out by the Pew Research Centre.

Perhaps that is why in Turkey since 2012, when Imam Hatip (religious) education was extended to middle schools for pupils aged 10 to 14, total pupil numbers have risen fivefold to 1.3 million students in over 4,000 schools according to a 2018 Reuters review. The same review found that Imam Hatip students make up only 11 percent of the total upper school population but they receive 23 percent of funding.

So prepare to roll up your sleeve or drop your strides, depending on where you prefer to feel a little prick (sorry to lower the tone).

Because now we shall all have to decide whether to take the jab or not, as the various products are approved and distribution starts.

In making your assessment I thought you might find it comforting to know about the scientists behind the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine as it comes to a surgery near you (Turkey has ordered a small consignment as well btw).

“If you ever have to choose between my views and Science, choose Science” Kemal Atatürk.

Hats off to our new Turkish heroes Uğur and Özel.

Surely they deserve that honeymoon now