From Vaccines to AI: BioNTech’s Bold Leap That Caught Big Pharma Off Guard
Do you remember the company that collaborated with Pfizer in COVID vaccine development? Yes, BioNTech, and if you think that this is just a start-up working with Pfizer to develop the vaccines, then buckle up – BioNTech has blown the lid with its latest discovery.
Spoiler Alert – It’s not just about the vaccine but something that even the big pharma companies have overlooked.
Did you think that they were content with the vaccines? Think again because this biopharma giant is on its way to revolutionizing cancer treatment with AI. BioNTech, after acquiring InstaDeep for about $440 million in early 2023, is now stepping into developing AI cancer treatment solutions.
Yes, you read it right. This week, at the company’s first-ever AI summit, the spotlight was on the brand-new AI model for designing antibodies from scratch. It also showed how AI can be used to rapidly analyze slides of tumor tissues, make sense of mysterious genomes, and identify tidbits of cancer proteins that the immune system can target. However, amidst the spectacle of AI, the audience was left puzzled: In what way is BioNTech’s cancer pipeline utilizing this AI magic? The BioNTech chief strategy officer Ryan Richardson said, ‘We do track it internally, but we don’t disclose it; this is a long-term thesis.”
The AI models of InstaDeep have already beaten the decade-old BioNTech’s tech. The AI newbies are outshining the veterans, but BioNTech isn’t dishing details, and it’s driving the competition wild. The company aims to attract talent that otherwise would have gone into the tech industry.
InstaDeep CEO Karim Beguir said, “The idea is to continue to be a leader in AI and continue to attract top AI talent that otherwise would perhaps not go work in biotech, but go work for Google, DeepMind, OpenAI.”
BioNTech’s AI is not just a concept on paper but a reality already been used for clinical trials for personalized cancer vaccines, and promising results are delivered. Although Richardson said there’s room for improvement, he wouldn’t say exactly how InstaDeep’s technology will factor into further refinements.
However, InstaDeep, with its 45 researchers, is focused on inventing new algorithms. The team has created what it calls a Bayesian Flow Network, or BFN, which Beguir believes will be more useful for scientific data that are continuous, discrete and heterogenous. This game changer will not just create proteins but will shake the scientific data analysis across the globe.
BioNTech doesn’t want to chase the same sandbox as the other AI startups. They are thinking bigger: combining AI with their mRNA technology and novel therapeutic platforms for game-changing results. Forget about keeping up with the competition – BioNTech is on its way to revolutionize the future of cancer treatment.
Richardson said, “We’re less excited by just applying the new, latest AI model to classic antibody technology. But when you combine cutting-edge AI with novel therapeutic platforms like we have, I think that’s where you’re going to see the greatest scope for disruption, so only BioNTech has the ability to build products and commercialize them with this.”
However, the question is: Can BioNTech bring revolution with this AI model? Or is it chasing AI buzz? Even though BioNtech has shaken up the biotech industry with its press report, the world has to wait and watch until its AI-driven products hit the market.
From Vaccines to AI: BioNTech’s Bold Leap That Caught Big Pharma Off Guard
