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On 22 April, NEC OncoImmunity AS revealed the results of its robust artificial intelligence (AI)-driven prediction platform in the designing of optimised vaccine compositions suitable for combating the outbreak of COVID-19 around the globe.

In a cutting-edge approach now revealed in their published paper, the bioinformatics company profiled thousands of full SARS-CoV-2 sequences and applied their sophisticated AI platform to identify hotspots of vaccine targets across a variety of the viral proteins, whilst avoiding any sequences that may have detrimental similarity to human proteins.  As a crucial further step in their digital analysis, the algorithms predicted the efficacy of such targets across the top 100 HLA types (or immune diversities) around the world.

As a result, these AI-generated hits represent a universal blueprint of COVID-19 vaccines, optimised for their ability to safely stimulate broad and effective immune responses against the coronavirus amongst a diverse spectrum of individuals.

As the world rushes to combat COVID-19 through trial and error, NEC OncoImmunity AS’s tech-driven approach may have defined a solution.

Gill Jennings & Every LLP worked closely with the lead scientists to help protect the core concepts of the invention.  The GJE team – led by partners Matt Hoyles and John Jappy, as well as Mark Aldred and Olly Beswetherick – were inspired by the exciting nature of the project, and feel a new found sense of optimism regarding an end to this global crisis.

To read the full NEC press release, please visit their website here.