Audible to publish Miller's inside story of BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine

Audible has acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to Joe Miller's Vaccine: How the Breakthrough of a Generation Fought Covid-19, the "remarkable" inside story of how the scientist couple Ugur Sahin and Özlem Türeci created the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine. 

Harry Scoble, senior manager at Audible, acquired rights from Jonny Geller at Curtis Brown. The book will be released as an Audible Original on 14th September 2021, with an e-book and paperback to follow. St Martin’s Publishing Group will publish in the US and Canada, after acquiring rights from Sloan Harris at ICM Partners on behalf of Geller. Doctors Sahin and Türeci are represented by Rory Scarfe at The Blair Partnership.

Based on 90 hours of exclusive interviews, Vaccine will tell the inside story of how Sahin and Türeci created the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine, the first clinically approved vaccine in the global fight against the pandemic. It will also reveal how scientists saw the threat Covid-19 posed soon after it emerged in Wuhan and will detail how BioNTech mobilised against it and employed cutting edge science to create viable vaccine candidates in record time during lockdown.

Miller, a Financial Times journalist, 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 pursuit of a single vision, one that now promises to unlock a new generation of vaccines and therapies."

Aurelie De Troyer, senior vice-president of international content at Audible, commented: "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."