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Artificial Intelligence Takes Over Vaccine Development

human and robot touching

Story Highlights

  • A computer with artificial intelligence (AI) has designed a new “turbocharged” flu vaccine without human help.
  • A research team from Flinders University in Australia created the AI program, which they named SAM (Search Algorithm for Ligands).
  • The AI vaccine research work is being funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

Scientists in Australia have begun human testing of the first vaccine designed entirely via artificial intelligence (AI). AI is leveraged in many ways in medical fields, from using voice recognition software to help input medical records to image-assisted diagnosis, and from robot-assisted surgery data analysis, but this is believed to be the first time the human element has been essentially removed from the process of developing a new drug.1

The computer program has been dubbed “SAM” (Search Algorithm for Ligands), reflecting its mission to “search the universe for all conceivable compounds to find a good human drug (also called a ligand).”2

“It has theoretical ability to acquire knowledge and then make new ideas,” said the team of researchers from Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia that first “taught” SAM by programming in a set of compounds known to stimulate the human immune system and another set of those known not to be active. SAM had to work out for itself which qualities it was looking for to create an active drug.2

“We essentially showed all of that to the AI program called SAM and then SAM came up with its own suggestion of what might be an effective adjuvant, which we then took and tested, and sure enough, it worked,” said lead researcher Professor Nikolai Petrovsky.2 The study team used a second program, which they called the “synthetic chemist” to generate “trillions of different chemical compounds that we then fed to SAM so that it could sift through all of these to find candidates that it thought might be good human immune drugs.”3

Using the candidates identified as most appropriate by the SAM program, study team tested the compounds on human blood samples and found that, not only did the program correctly recognize immune-activating drugs, the new compounds were more powerful than those that were previously known. Shown in animal testing to boost the effectiveness of the flu vaccine, the study team is now recruiting approximately 240 patients for 12-month human trials across the U.S.4

If the new vaccine is more effective than existing flu shots (only 29 percent effective for the 2019 season—a mere nine percent for the second half of the season5 6) the developers expect it will ultimately replace the existing flu vaccine. Prof. Petrovsky said, “If this is the case then the same technology we are using for flu vaccines can be applied to improve or develop many other vaccines.”7

Why is the New Vaccine Being Tested in the U.S.?

Research dollars in Australia typically support larger institutions than Flinders University, where this AI-derived flu vaccine was developed. When the proposal by Prof. Petrovsky was turned down by Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), Petrovsky turned to the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NIH accepted the proposal and provided more than $50 million in funding for the project.8

The use of AI is expected to significantly impact the field of vaccine research and development. Currently, vaccines are developed over many years by large pharmaceutical companies, with innumerable researchers working for years to analyze the potential candidates. Using their AI technology, Prof. Petrovsky’s small team developed the “turbocharged” vaccine in about two years and expects to have it on the market in three years.9

Explaining their decision to decline funding for the AI-lead development of the new flu vaccine, a NHMRC representative said, “Funding applications for health and medical research projects are subject to rigorous, expert peer review against published criteria, to ensure transparency, probity and fairness… Therefore only applications—including applications for the development of flu vaccines—of the highest quality are funded by NHMRC.”10


References:

1 Masige H. Australian Researchers Have Just Released The World’s First AI-Developed Vaccine. Science Alert July 13, 2019.
2 Sparkes E, Burnie R. AI Invents More Effective Flu Vaccine In World First, Adelaide Researchers Say. ABC News July 1, 2019.
3 See Footnote 1.
4 
Brown A. Can Artificial Intelligence Design Drug Independently? Data Driven Investor June 12, 2019.
5 Associated Press. Flu Vaccine No Match Against Bug That Popped Up Near End. STAT News June 27, 2019.
6 Cáceres M. What’s So Effective About a Flu Vaccine That’s Less Than 10 Percent “Effective”? The Vaccine Reaction July 3, 2019.
7 See Footnote 1.
8 Ibid. 
9 See Footnote 4.
10 See Footnote 1.

16 Responses

  1. Am I missing something? Why isn’t the computer program called “SAL”? Are they using a synonym or pseudonym for the word “Ligand”?

  2. … Therefore only applications—including applications for the development of flu vaccines—of the highest quality are funded by NHMRC..”

    Ummmmmm, this speaks volumes that the United States NIH has much lower standards. And they want people to line up and be the guinea pigs…money talks. Shameful!

  3. only applications—including applications for the development of flu vaccines—of the highest quality are funded by NHMRC.”10

    God help the United States and those living here…

  4. We don’t need any more damaging vaccines. Stop the insanity. This is a dangerous path America is heading down. Herd mentality is ridiculous. With 1 in 36 babies getting autism, parents need to stop and do their own research.

  5. The use of AI to spinoff millions of options for vaccine research is a definite improvement over the current research process. It also takes the research outside the normal boundaries of funded research that are purely economically driven – a pharma company won’t invest too much in ingredients that can’t be patented or dominated.

    And we would have to assume that this new approach didn’t find that aluminum and mercury were the only effective adjuvants worthy of consideration in activating the immune system. So this approach at least stands a chance of finding a solution that is also safe.

    But at the end of the day we need to keep in mind the current failing of the agencies who regulated these vaccines. They are wholly owned and controlled by pharmaceutical companies and will not approve the sourcing of solutions from things they don’t control.

    To date, these agencies and the companies who own them have succeeded in highjacking the entire process, getting the US states to commit to a “vaccine court” that takes liability from the pharma companies and places the burden (4B to date) on the American taxpayer. The safety testing is done by the companies themselves who easily manipulate the results indicating no safety issues. Safety testing might become more important to the CDC and FDA in the case where someone else had a better solution than their owners.

    Adequate and thorough safety testing is essential in the vaccine business. It gives you definite numbers to drive the label on that bottle. It tells us how many people got this or that condition or illness – we shouldn’t be guessing about that.

    But the truth is, it may be moot – because safety testing and labelling of risks assuming that the consumer and the parents of the 18 months old child has some choice over whether their child gets vaccinated and for the most part that choice will be gone in another 5 years and state by state we battle to retain our rights to informed choice and lose.

  6. I have to assume that all of the usual animal pus and putrescence is still in the vaccines. And animal testing? Since animal testing cannot be extrapolated to humans and since all of the vaccines that have been damaging and killing people for decades were tested on animals, what the heck does “animal testing” prove?

  7. Dr. Jim: Ok Bob, tell the AI that vaccines are good.

    Bob: Can’t it figure that out for itself?

    Dr. Jim: No, we have to educate this baby singularity so that it will work within the bounds of the corporate and state agendas. How will it know if we don’t tell it?

    AI: Will you two shut up, I am trying to figure out the best way to use Bill Gates’ “zero formula” to reduce the population.

  8. Using the candidates identified as most appropriate by the SAM program, study team tested the compounds on human blood samples and found that, not only did the program correctly recognize immune-activating drugs, the new compounds were more powerful than those that were previously known. Shown in animal testing to boost the effectiveness of the flu vaccine, the study team is now recruiting approximately 240 patients for 12-month human trials across the U.S.

  9. Will Professor Nikolai Petrovsky‘s SAM (SAL…) really take over drug development? “The study team used a second program, which they called the “synthetic chemist” to generate “trillions of different chemical compounds that we then fed to SAM so that it could sift through all of these to find candidates that it thought might be good human immune drugs.”

    What are the (programmed) “no goes” for SAM/SAL? Developing real drugs – drugs that REALLY cure or prevent – are not a sustainable business model.

  10. Maybe the NIH is more interested (at least in part) in finding out what the threat to profit is rather than the effectiveness.

  11. NO MORE VACCINES.
    AI generated or not.

    Vaccines are Voodoo Science. They do not generate the correct TH response. Here is a video from a former MERCK scientist that explains why Vaccines don’t work-especially the Flu vaccine. He also explain about the mythological Herd Immunity:
    EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: The Merck Insider
    A compelling interview with Jorge Araujo, former lead supervisor in Merck’s vaccine department, on his search for safety data and why he decided not to vaccinate his own children.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yROsPgbuh0U

    Jorge Araujo
    “my position vaccine safety science is largely flawed and incomplete”

    He gives a thoroughly explanation of the flawed Herd Immunity pushed by the CDC and the medical cartel overall. This starts at 32:18.

    If you want to see the entire video it can be see here:
    THE MERCK INSIDER – EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW JORGE ARAUJO
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYfJPPqfBAs

  12. HERD IMMUNITY: you will only be truly immune if you acquire the wild type of a particular virus and it’s allowed to manifest and resolve, you’re gonna have a specific resistance to that virus and it’s long lasting, it’s permanent now why is that? You don’t get that with a vaccination because that administration is largely localizes and so you have an antibody response that is not pervasive through the entire physiology, it’s pervasive largely to that site and so you are essentially bypassing, your short cutting the body’s natural and collaborative response to an antigen.
    Jorge Araujo, former lead supervisor in Merck’s vaccine department.

    Basically he’s saying what Golding and Scott reported in 1995.

    In 1995, Golding and Scott, published the need for strategies to make vaccines that would generate the “required” Th cell to the corresponding microorganism. Since that time, attempts to produce vaccines that would generate a “natural”- type response have failed. So, we are left with vaccines that generate “protective” responses as a second choice. How does this work? In vaccine-induced Th2 responses, called humoral responses, the body produces large quantities of specific antibodies that block the virus from entering cells. This response is why a vaccinated child doesn’t get a full blown infection and why the child won’t spread as many viruses into the environment. However, antibodies cannot get into cells to eliminate viruses once the viruses are in the cells or cannot kill infected cells themselves. Therefore, the body has no choice other than to internalize the virus and be chronically infected when the body is forced into a Th2 antibody response. The body is essentially constipated with viruses that it cannot expel!

    Golding S., Scott DE., Vaccine Strategy: Targeting Helper T Cell Responses. Ann. NY Acad. Sci. 754:126-137, May 31, 1995
    The above researchers were working for the FDA when they did this research.

    So I don’t get what the hype or excitement is with AI designed vaccine. Where is the discussion about the most essential aspect of an immune response? That’s not addressed. View the video and listen to Jorge Araujo explain about the body’s defense mechanism when it is confronted with a virus. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yROsPgbuh0U

  13. I wonder if the AI knows if it will harm that particular child with the compound or vaccine it is administering, or if it will understand when someone wants to make a choice and say no….

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