S. Korean Pharmaceutical and Biotech Firms Collaborate on Using AI to Develop Drugs

South Korean pharmaceutical and biotech companies are collaborating to develop new drugs using artificial intelligence (AI).

AI can predict whether a chemical compound is suitable for human use, thereby speeding up the identification of potential substances and enabling the selection of appropriate clinical patients.

There are over 100 cases where candidate substances for new drugs are under development using AI, with over 50 percent carried out through collaborations between domestic and foreign companies, according to the Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-pharma Manufacturers Association.

HK inno.N Corp. and AinB recently signed an MOU to identify a new antibody candidate substance for cell and gene therapies and establish an antigen design platform for vaccine development.

Last year, Pharos iBio inked a deal with Yuhan Corp. to promote the joint study and technology transfer of the AI-based KRAS inhibitor.

This company is now carrying out a phase 1 clinical trial in Korea and Australia after developing PHI-101, a candidate substance for the treatment of leukemia, using its AI platform, Chemiverse.

Moreover, Oncocross, which has AI technology to identify the optimal disease for drugs, signed a joint study and development contract with Boryung Corp. in February to expand the indications of hypertension treatment.