It researches drugs based on messenger RNA (mRNA) for use as individualized cancer immunotherapies, as vaccines against infectious diseases and as protein replacement therapies for rare diseases. In 2020, the company started developing the BNT162b2 vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 with Pfizer and Fosun. In late 2020 BioNTech successfully developed, together with Pfizer, the RNA vaccine called BNT162b2 against COVID-19. The company said, it's vaccine efficacy was 95%. On 2 December 2020, the United Kingdom government gave permission to use BNT162b2 vaccinations in the country. Later in December 2020 USA, Canada and the EU also gave permission to use the BioNTech vaccine. 