AI Meets Biologics: Highlights from the Festival of Biologics 2024

This year’s top innovations shaping the future of biologics

We are at the tail end of this year’s conference season, and what a fantastic year it’s been for events centered around innovations in healthcare and AI!

The Festival of Biologics, Europe’s largest biologics event, took place last week in Basel, Switzerland. The conference brought together over 3,000 attendees and 211 sponsors from more than 50 countries, sparking stimulating conversations and new collaborations. Ardigen was represented by our in-house biologics experts, Kaja Milanowska-Zabel and Maciej Jasiński, who delivered a talk transforming the discovery of biological therapeutics with AI on the first day of the conference.  

Over three days, attendees were immersed in a wide range of topics that covered the different molecule types (including monoclonal, bispecific and multispecific antibodies, antibody-drug conjugates, small proteins and peptides, and biosimilars) as well as approaches to drug discovery, clinical trials, manufacturing and formulation, and, of course, advances in computational methods, including AI and physics-based tools.

The festival featured multiple concurrent events, with talks, poster presentations, and roundtables that encouraged a dynamic dialogue about the most pressing challenges in the field of biologics. Whether the discussions centered on innovative solutions in manufacturing or the regulatory hurdles in market access, the Festival of Biologics 2024 provided no shortage of insights on the future of this rapidly evolving sector.

AI as a collaboration facilitator

This year’s event highlighted the importance of bridging the gap between academia and industry, the importance of robust data practices and seamless systems integration, as well as cultivating a holistic approach to the biologics pipeline, from discovery to commercialization. Collaboration across disciplines was seen as a crucial step for increasing the success rate and bringing new drugs to market faster.

At the keynote panel titled “Beyond the Hype: Next Steps for AI in Biologics R&D” moderated by Jana Hersch, Head of Scientific Engagement at Genedata, experts discussed how AI can be most effectively integrated into biologics research, emphasizing the need to bridge the gap between scientific expertise and AI technologies. The discussion focused on the potential of specialized AI models, like large language models (LLMs), to act as translators between different scientific domains.

The panelists, including Uwe Wittenberg (Digital Data & IT Business Partner Pre-Clinical Research at Merck Healthcare), Bjoern Hueber (Senior Principal Scientist Data Science at Novartis), and Luciano Lucas (Senior Director AI Product & Imaging Innovation at Leica Microsystems), shared the sentiment that the development of Biologics is too complex to replace scientists with AI. Instead, AI can serve as a powerful tool to enhance collaboration and accelerate drug development.

End-to-end platforms for antibody design and optimization

On the technology side, we enjoyed a couple of great talks on employing end-to-end platforms for the discovery and development of antibodies from Hong Liang, a Professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Stephanie Kapelski, Matrix Lead in Antibody Screening & Assay Technologies at Bayer. 

Hong Liang’s talk, “Comprehensive Artificial Intelligence Solutions for Protein Engineering,” highlighted the use of large language models (LLMs) trained on 800 million protein sequences, significantly more than public datasets. By treating protein sequences like paragraphs of text, the model extracted valuable insights, achieving impressive results in de novo lead generation and optimization. This approach aligns with Ardigen’s work on protein LLMs, such as PRISM, showcasing the potential of AI in protein engineering.

Stephanie Kapelski’s talk, “Next-Generation Biologics Engineering Platform,” focused on optimizing the biologics development process through AI and automation. She emphasized the importance of early, multi-parameter drug candidate characterization and the need to “learn fast and fail fast.” By combining AI with automated high-capacity labs, Bayer’s platform accelerates lead optimization, reduces cycle times, and improves candidate selection. This approach has proven successful in streamlining the biologics development pipeline.

Applying AI beyond discovery and development

The topics of the conference reached far beyond advances in drug discovery and development. Many focused on the regulatory, manufacturing, operational and clinical sides of the biologics industry. Something that stood out to us was using computational tools to optimize the development of protein-based therapeutics into optimal formulations.

Giuseppe Licari, Lead Scientist, Computational Structural Biology, at Merck, delivered a talk titled “In silico Formulation Development for Protein-Based Therapeutics.” In it he showcased how computational methods can be applied beyond discovery into formulation development. Using physics-based molecular dynamics, rather than AI/ML, his team screened formulation conditions in silico, such as pH, ion strength, and buffer types. This approach allowed them to rank potential formulations without experimental data, significantly speeding up the formulation process and maximizing the success rate before wet lab testing.

Combining expertise for increased impact

The Festival of Biologics is a melting pot of ideas, innovation, and collaboration. From researchers and investors to industry regulators and academics, the Festival of Biologics represented a wide swath of biotech and pharma thought leaders, creating an environment where all stakeholders in the biologics space could converge, share insights, and forge new relationships.

It was an ideal setting to explore the latest industry developments, whether in cutting-edge antibody research or the evolving biosimilars market, with over 350 talks and discussions shaping the narrative of where the industry is heading. If you want to stay at the forefront of innovation in the field of biologics, reach out to one of our experts to learn more about the services Ardigen offers.