0
This image was generated by AI.

The capability to develop new drugs using AI is emerging as a core competitiveness in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. The competition to secure technology is intensifying as it can increase the probability of clinical success from the candidate discovery stage and reduce research and development costs and time. Companies are focusing on advancing technology through their own platform development as well as joint research and open innovation with domestic and foreign companies.

On the 18th, LG Chem announced that it signed a joint research and license option agreement with LabGenius Therapeutics in the UK to discover multi-specific antibody anti-cancer drug candidates. LabGenius is an AI-based drug discovery company that has independently developed and operates EVA, a platform that combines machine learning with high-throughput automated experimentation technology and equipment.

The reason LG Chem is conducting this joint research is to more quickly discover competitive candidates in the multi-specific antibody field. Multi-specific antibody drugs have complex protein structures, taking over five years from target validation to lead optimization. However, by utilizing LabGenius's platform, the company expects to shorten this period to about half, accelerating the timing of entering clinical trials.

LG Chem is recently putting effort into strengthening its AI-based drug development competitiveness. It has independently developed 'MediX,' an integrated AI platform for the entire cycle of drug development, and is applying it to optimal target discovery and drug candidate efficacy prediction and screening. It plans to continuously expand its usage to clinical development, production, and processes in the future. Along with this, the company is active in open innovation, such as building a genomic analysis model with the LG AI Research and conducting joint research on anti-cancer protein lead design with Galux, an AI drug discovery company.

Cooperation to secure AI technology is extending beyond joint research between companies to strategic alliances with research institutes. ST Pharm announced on the 18th that it signed a joint research agreement for AI-based RNA design and optimization technology with the Mogam Institute for Biomedical Research. This is to increase competitiveness in developing and producing next-generation RNA therapeutics by combining Mogam Institute's AI-based RNA structure design capabilities with ST Pharm's RNA medicine development and production technology.

JW Pharmaceutical, together with its subsidiary C&C Research Laboratories, is dedicating itself to drug development utilizing AI and robot convergence technology. When a robot automatically synthesizes and produces compounds designed using JW Pharmaceutical's integrated AI drug development platform 'JWave,' C&C Research Laboratories uses this to discover anti-cancer drug candidates capable of entering non-clinical trials. Through this, they plan to streamline the research cycle leading from design to synthesis and evaluation, increasing speed and precision.

The industry views that the phase of competition in AI drug development has recently moved from simple technology adoption to advancement. As the scope of AI utilization expands to the entire process from candidate discovery to optimization and production processes, it is evaluated as being recognized as an essential infrastructure for drug development. Accordingly, building a cooperative ecosystem among AI specialized companies, pharmaceutical firms, and research institutes and combining expertise in each field is emerging as a key task to secure competitiveness.

An industry official said, "AI is no longer a differentiating factor for specific companies but is becoming an essential tool applied throughout the entire drug development process," adding, "Going forward, competitiveness will depend on whether each entity can closely cooperate by combining their possessed technologies and data to connect them to actual research and development results."

                                                                                                             Bae Da-hyun