For the first time, (Australian) researchers have succeeded in developing a vaccine entirely designed by Artificial Intelligence. This is a seasonal flu vaccine.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming more important every day in the field of health. There are now connected objects allowing better patient care, intelligent software able to make a diagnosis without the intervention of a doctor, robotic assistance during surgical operations… But until now, no one had yet created a vaccine only with the help of a machine. It is now done. This month, Australian researchers from Flinders University announced that they have succeeded in developing the first vaccine designed entirely by AI. This is a seasonal flu vaccine.
To do this, the scientists used SAM, named Search Algorithm for Ligands. Consider a drug search algorithm to search for all conceivable compounds to develop an effective vaccine. “We had to teach the AI program a set of compounds known to activate the human immune system as well as a set of compounds that were ineffective. The job of artificial intelligence was then to determine for itself what distinguishes a drug that works from a drug that does not work, “explains to Business Insider Australia Professor Nikolai Petrovsky, director of research for the biotechnology company Vaxine.
The researchers then created billions of imaginary compounds which they presented to SAM via a second algorithm. The machine sifted through them to retain only a dozen potentially effective candidates to act as adjuvants (medicine added to another to reinforce its action). The selected compounds were synthesized and then the researchers tested them on human cells. One of them has been successfully retained and applied to animals.
The vaccine could hit the market within three years
Now, the new vaccine is about to enter clinical trials on humans for a year in the United States. The researchers hope that it will be more effective than those already existing against the seasonal flu. They would eventually like to complete or replace them.
“We already know that the vaccine is extremely protective against influenza, surpassing the vaccines we currently know. We just have to confirm this in humans”, develops Nikolai Petrovsky. If the trials work in humans, the vaccine could be on the market within three years. “If this is the case, the same technology that we use for influenza vaccines can be used to improve or develop many other vaccines,” enthuses the researcher. The latter and his team have also just developed a new vaccine for protect people allergic to bee stings.
A vaccine “moderately effective this year”
This year, the French Sentinelles network estimated the effectiveness of the flu vaccine against the A (H1N1) pdm09 virus at 74% and at 21% against the A (H3N2) virus in all at risk of complications. “The vaccine is moderately effective this year” in the face of the epidemic, admitted the Minister of Health, Agnès Buzyn, in February.
Each year in France, the seasonal flu affects 2.5 million times and causes five deaths per day on average, i.e. 1,500 to 2,000 per year.