Saverio Niccolini
CEO, NEC Oncolmmunity, an NEC Bio Company
Kaidre Bendjama
CSO, NEC Oncolmmunity, an NEC Bio Company
Scientists are using artificial intelligence (AI) to quickly design vaccines tailored to individual patients in oncology and universal designs for infectious diseases. This innovation could revolutionise the treatment landscape.
In the complex field of vaccine development, AI isn’t just a game-changer. It could also be a lifesaver. For instance, NEC Bio uses state-of-the-art machine learning technology to design vaccines that could significantly improve outcomes for cancer patients. The company has already developed applications in the oncology space and is looking to repeat the same success in infectious diseases.
“In 2019, the company decided to make AI-based drug development a growth area,” explains Saverio Niccolini, CEO at NEC Oncolmmunity, a subsidiary of NEC Bio. “Many biotechs try to acquire AI capabilities without having a deep understanding of it. Whereas, AI is in our DNA.”
Modelling the entire immune system with AI
By using AI technology to model the body’s entire immune system, scientists are able to create vaccines, in oncology, tailored to individual patients. “This type of personalisation is only possible because of AI,” says Niccolini. “Think of it this way: there are millions of cancer cells in the body with different mutations. There are also millions of cells that can stimulate potential immune responses to kill the cancer. These vast numbers can only be computationally resolved with AI modelling, which mimics the molecular processing happening inside each of these cells.”
AI has also put rocket boosters under the company’s vaccine development timelines. “Engineering a vaccine in a wet lab can take months,” says Niccolini. “Yet, with artificial intelligence, we can design a targeted vaccine, in silico, in a matter of days.”
An example of this is the company’s personalised vaccine for patients with head and neck cancer. While still in clinical trial, so far, the results look promising. “In a significant proportion of these patients, the cancer returns within two years of the first treatment,” explains Kaidre Bendjama, CSO. “To prevent recurrence, we created a bespoke vaccine in partnership with a biotech firm. We’re pleased to say that none of the patients in the trial who were given the vaccine have experienced a relapse, and there have been no reported safety issues. Ultimately, if the trial is successful and the vaccine is approved, it could change the treatment landscape for various cancers by providing patients with a new class of targeted therapy.”
With artificial intelligence, we
can design a targeted vaccine,
in silico, in a matter of days.
Creating universal vaccines for infectious disease
The company has now repurposed its AI oncology model to create universal vaccines for various infectious diseases, including HBV and influenza. It has also partnered with CEPI (the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations) to advance the development of vaccines that provide broad protection against SARS-CoV-2 variants and other betacorona viruses.
“Unlike oncology vaccinations that are personalised to the patient, we aim to create universal infectious disease vaccinations that are targeted at whole virus families or across a range of virus variants,” says Bendjama. “However, it’s still early days. Animal studies have yielded interesting data and look promising for future clinical applications.
Accelerating the path from drug discovery to market
While it is certainly challenging to be working in the vaccine development field, it also presents us with an exciting opportunity to apply NEC Bio’s expertise in AI, says Niccolini. “Although we can design vaccines quickly with AI, we still face the long wait for drug approvals through clinical trials,” he says.
“This is understandable because there needs to be rigorous analysis of the impact of new drugs on patients. However, as we recognised during the pandemic, the process needs to be accelerated, which is why we are open to collaboration with pharma companies and not only offer our drug development technologies but also ICT technologies that can potentially shorten the operational timelines. Relying on pharma partner’s clinical development expertise we believe that we can bring the drug to the patient faster.”
NEC Bio is a fully owned subsidiary of the NEC Corporation, a 125-year-old Tokyo-based IT and electronics multinational conglomerate.
