(Reuters) -Pfizer Inc said on Thursday that it sold a part of its stake in German drugmaker BioNTech SE, more than five years after both firms formed an alliance that yielded a vaccine to combat the deadly COVID-19 pandemic.

A regulatory filing showed that Pfizer cut its stake by 54.7%, leaving the company with approximately 1.66 million sponsored American Depositary Shares of BioNTech, valued at about $163.5 million as of September 30.

This marks a strategic shift after Pfizer and BioNTech began their partnership in 2018, collaborating on the development of mRNA-based influenza vaccines.

A spokesperson for BioNTech said earlier on Thursday, when asked to comment on the stake sale, that its collaboration with Pfizer has not changed.

Their relationship intensified in early 2020 as the C

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