BioNTech has developed a method to predict new high-risk variants of COVID-19

BioNTech has developed a method to predict new high-risk variants of “More than 10,000 novel variant sequences are currently discovered every week and human experts simply cannot cope with complex data at this scale,” said Karim Beguir, Co-Founder and CEO of InstaDeep. Shirin Ali TheHill

One pharmaceutical company announced it has developed a method to predict new COVID-19 variants through artificial intelligence to help global efforts in combating the coronavirus pandemic. 

BioNTech announced on Tuesday it had partnered with InstaDeep to develop a computational method that analyzes global sequencing data. Called the Early Warning System (EWS), BioNTech said it combines spike protein structural modeling with artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to quickly flag potential high-risk COVID-19 variants.  

The company conducted an 11-month study that showcased the capabilities of EWS and found it could evaluate new variants within minutes, with the system identifying over 90 percent of the World Health Organization’s designated variants, including variants of concern, interest and variants under monitoring, on average two months in advance. 

The alpha, beta, gamma, theta, eta and omicron variants were all detected by EWS in the same week its sequences were first uploaded. The omicron variant was even ranked as a high-risk variant the same day its sequence became available, according to BioNTech.

“Early flagging of potential high-risk variants could be an effective tool to alert researchers, vaccine developers, health authorities and policy makers, thereby providing more time to respond to new variants of concern,” said Ugur Sahin, CEO and co-founder of BioNTech.  ...