Biotech Startup Secures $14 Million for AI-Driven Vaccine Development

The British company Baseimmune has raised $14 million in early-stage funding for vaccine development. The startup leverages artificial intelligence in its operations.

The funding was provided by the investment arm of the American pharmaceutical company MSD GHIF and the British venture group IQ Capital.

Baseimmune has trained neural networks to predict pathogen mutations to create drugs against coronavirus and other diseases. According to scientists, such medications will be more effective over time.

“Instead of studying viruses that have already emerged, we predict them”, said Baseimmune co-founder Arian Gomes.

The company has significantly reduced development time by using big data and a design algorithm. The technology is based on a computational platform that deciphers pathogen evolution and creates cross-vaccines.

The startup is developing synthetic antigens—parts of viruses that trigger the body’s immune response and serve as the basis for vaccine creation. The company trained AI on a broad dataset of pathogens, enabling the creation of more complex antibodies and better adaptation of vaccines to potential mutations.

“Baseimmune offers a wide range of treatments for various viral diseases. This allows for faster market entry”, said FT one of the project’s investors, David Rubin.

He noted that the number of startups developing drugs with AI is growing. Investors chose companies that reliably verify data obtained through computations.

In February, scientists at the University of California found a way to predict Alzheimer’s disease using AI several years before symptoms appear.