Audible, a leading provider of spoken-word entertainment, has acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to the fully authorized story of the most important medical breakthrough of our age. Vaccine: How the Breakthrough of a Generation Fought Covid-19, will tell the remarkable inside story of how the scientist couple Ugur Sahin and Özlem Türeci created the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine, the first clinically approved vaccine in the global fight against the pandemic.
It will be released exclusively in audio in the UK on 14th September as an Audible Original with print and ebook to be released at a later stage.
Written by Financial Times journalist Joe Miller, with the exclusive involvement of and contributions from Dr. Sahin and Dr. Türeci, this book provides unparalleled access to their dramatic account of their race against the virus, and is based on more than 90 hours of interviews with Dr. Sahi and Dr. Türeci, alongside dozens of BioNTech staff, as well as regulators, politicians and scientists from around the world.
Against the backdrop of an historic global crisis, Vaccine will reveal how the scientists saw the unique threat Covid-19 posed soon after it emerged in Wuhan. It will detail how their company, BioNTech, mobilised against it and employed cutting edge science to create viable vaccine candidates; how, as the world went into lockdown, they overcame hurdles and navigated political interference to produce a safe, effective vaccine in record time; and how in 2021, in partnership with Pfizer, they will supply more than 2.5 billion doses to countries around the world, saving countless lives.
At a time when public confidence in vaccine safety is crucial, this book also shows that while the vaccine itself took only weeks to create, that process was grounded in 30 years of scientific research and innovation. And it offers a glimpse of the incredible potential for the treatment of other diseases which BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine has unlocked. This is a historic account of the triumph of human endeavour in a time of adversity.
Vaccine: How the Breakthrough of a Generation Fought Covid-19 will be released exclusively in audio as an Audible Original in the UK and Commonwealth, following a deal struck between Jonny Geller at Curtis Brown and Audible’s Harry Scoble. It will be published in the US and Canada by St Martin’s Publishing Group who acquired rights from Sloan Harris at ICM Partners. Drs Sahin and Türeci are represented by Rory Scarfe at The Blair Partnership.
Joe Miller said: “Having watched the record-breaking development of the world’s first clinically approved Covid-19 vaccine at close quarters, I am delighted to be able to tell the story of what will surely rank as one of the greatest scientific achievements of our age.
In their longstanding quest to target cancer, Ugur Sahin and Özlem Türeci, believed in harnessing the powers of the immune system. Their triumph, at one of humankind’s darkest moments, was no happy accident. As this account will explain, it was built on decades spent in perseverant pursuit of a single vision, one that now promises to unlock a new generation of vaccines and therapies.”
Aurelie De Troyer, SVP, International Content at Audible said: “Dr. Sahin and Dr. Türeci‘s incredible story shows how, at a time of despair, human determination and scientific research prevailed. We‘re honoured to be releasing this important work as an Audible Original – demonstrating our renewed commitment to audio-first releases for premium books.”
Vaccine: How the Breakthrough of a Generation Fought Covid-19 will be available to download from 16th September 2021 exclusively at www.audible.co.uk.
