Baidu in partnership with Sanofi to use its algorithm in mRNA vaccine, therapy development

Baidu announced on November 22nd that it has entered Into License Agreement With Sanofi to Enable Next-Generation mRNA Therapeutics and Vaccines. Baidu, a leading AI company with strong Internet foundation, and Sanofi, a leading biopharmaceutical company focused on human health, have entered into an agreement to integrate Baidu’s messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) design optimization platform, LinearDesign, into Sanofi’s product design pipeline. Under the agreement, Sanofi will leverage the LinearDesign platform to contribute to the optimization of mRNA sequences for human therapeutic and preventive uses. This agreement marks a milestone for Baidu to use its strengths in computational biology to optimize mRNA vaccine and therapy designs in real-world pharmaceutical practice beyond Covid-19. While mRNA has proved to be an innovative technology for vaccine development, instability remains a major limitation that affects the storage, distribution, and efficacy of mRNA vaccines. LinearDesign is a novel algorithm developed by Baidu researchers in 2020 specifically for mRNA sequence design. Experiments both in vitro and in vivo have demonstrated the effectiveness of LinearDesign in improving the stability and immunogenicity of Spike protein-encoding mRNA. LinearDesign was inspired by two algorithms previously developed by Baidu and its collaborators: LinearFold, the world’s fastest algorithm for RNA secondary structure prediction, and LinearPartition, the world’s fastest base pairing probability prediction algorithm. The LinearDesign program is part of Baidu’s ongoing effort to develop innovative computational biology technology aiming to accelerate novel drug discovery

For further information see Reuters https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/baidu-partnership-with-sanofi-use-its-algorithm-mrna-vaccine-therapy-development-2021-11-22/

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