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Same deal with the Pfizer vaccine, really. My family in Germany lives near where BioNTech is located, and everyone is very proud to call it the BioNTech vaccine

Same deal with the Pfizer vaccine, really. My family in Germany lives near where BioNTech is located, and everyone is very proud to call it the BioNTech vaccine.

adventured 6y ago
Entirely different in fact. Pfizer doesn't own BioNTech, they're business partners. J&J owns Janssen (for 60 years now), the vaccine belongs specifically to J&J.
epistasis 6y ago
I'm not in Germany, but I also get very frustrated when the Pfizer name is applied to what BioNTech created. BioNTech is going to be doing amazing things later on too, with their great tech platform. I have a feeling that news sources are very guarded about introducing new names to the public, especially ones as difficult to pronounce as BioNTech (I've heard some great butchering of the pronunciation too).
- fermienrico 6y ago
  May be its just easier to pronounce Pfizer than BioNTech? Not everything needs to be distilled down to nationalistic undertones. I am getting sick of this kind of discussion permeating on HN - It is extremely juvenile and damaging to the spirit of HN. In this regard, Reddit seems to be a lot better. Go on any vaccine related thread and there is absolutely none of this. There is so much more global cooperation observed on Reddit than on HN.
  - epistasis 6y ago
    This has nothing to do with nationalism. I'm not German. I don't care about whether Germany gets credit for this. I care about BioNTech getting credit. My complaint, beyond just the media, is that large pharma, like Pfizer, being fundamentally uninnovative companies that grow by acquisition rather than invention. And about small companies being denied the potential to grow because of an oligopoly of control. Name brand recognition drives dollars, and in biotech the ability to raise money is just as much a hurdle as the chances of your trial failing.
    - fermienrico 6y ago
      I see your point, and that's a valid concern. I wonder how much damage public PR does to investors - who are supposed to be highly informed and not be pursued by public hype.

Same deal with the Pfizer vaccine, really. My family in Germany lives near where BioNTech is located, and everyone is very proud to call it the BioNTech vaccine.

adventured 6y ago

Entirely different in fact. Pfizer doesn't own BioNTech, they're business partners. J&J owns Janssen (for 60 years now), the vaccine belongs specifically to J&J.

epistasis 6y ago

I'm not in Germany, but I also get very frustrated when the Pfizer name is applied to what BioNTech created. BioNTech is going to be doing amazing things later on too, with their great tech platform. I have a feeling that news sources are very guarded about introducing new names to the public, especially ones as difficult to pronounce as BioNTech (I've heard some great butchering of the pronunciation too).

fermienrico 6y ago
May be its just easier to pronounce Pfizer than BioNTech? Not everything needs to be distilled down to nationalistic undertones. I am getting sick of this kind of discussion permeating on HN - It is extremely juvenile and damaging to the spirit of HN. In this regard, Reddit seems to be a lot better. Go on any vaccine related thread and there is absolutely none of this. There is so much more global cooperation observed on Reddit than on HN.
- epistasis 6y ago
  This has nothing to do with nationalism. I'm not German. I don't care about whether Germany gets credit for this. I care about BioNTech getting credit. My complaint, beyond just the media, is that large pharma, like Pfizer, being fundamentally uninnovative companies that grow by acquisition rather than invention. And about small companies being denied the potential to grow because of an oligopoly of control. Name brand recognition drives dollars, and in biotech the ability to raise money is just as much a hurdle as the chances of your trial failing.
  - fermienrico 6y ago
    I see your point, and that's a valid concern. I wonder how much damage public PR does to investors - who are supposed to be highly informed and not be pursued by public hype.