The South Korean government is ramping up efforts to build infrastructure that integrates artificial intelligence (AI) technology to accelerate drug development, drawing attention to biotech firms with proprietary AI drug development platforms.
According to industry sources, the government recently announced its 'Advanced Bio Promotion Strategy,' which aims to establish an AI model specialized in cancer, autonomous laboratories, and biofoundries by 2030. The initiative seeks to significantly reduce the time and costs associated with research and development for new drugs.
To support this effort, the government plans to substantially increase its investment in bio and medical research and development (R&D). The budget for related projects has expanded by 23% this year, rising from 648.7 billion won last year to 802.3 billion won. Of this, 199 billion won will be allocated to the AI bio sector, with plans to pilot six autonomous laboratories to expedite infrastructure development.
The industry anticipates that the AI-based drug development market will continue to grow. According to the Korea Bio Association, the global healthcare AI market, valued at $39.34 billion last year, is projected to grow at an average annual rate of 44%, reaching $1.3327 trillion by 2034.
The Bio Association stated, "The establishment of the 'cancer-specialized AI model,' 'autonomous laboratories,' and 'biofoundries' included in the Advanced Bio Promotion Strategy will positively impact companies that urgently need to shorten development times and reduce costs."
Companies that have already integrated AI technology into drug development are expected to benefit from government policies. In particular, firms with self-developed AI platforms that do not rely on external technologies are attracting market interest.
Pharos AI Bio has developed a platform called 'Chemiverse,' which combines the latest AI algorithms, including AlphaFold and transformer-based generative models, with a database of approximately 6.2 billion protein 3D structures and compounds. This platform integrates AI throughout the entire drug development cycle, from new compound screening and lead candidate identification to drug modeling and target genome analysis for discovering new indications.
Inno Therapeutics is utilizing its proprietary AI drug development platform, 'DeepZema,' to identify candidate substances based on drug repurposing. DeepZema combines existing computational drug development technologies with AI to select effective candidates based on the designs and judgments of medicinal chemistry researchers. Its main functions include target discovery, ADME and toxicity prediction, new derivative design, docking, and binding pose evaluation.
Synteka Bio is operating multiple research projects on a high-efficiency AI platform based on a specialized model for new drug development, rapidly discovering candidate substances. It has established three core pipelines based on its proprietary DSM technology: discovery of new small molecules (synthetic drugs), design of improved small molecules, and development of antibody biobetters. In the small molecule sector, it is achieving concrete results by simultaneously pursuing new compound discovery and improved drug design based on its main AI platform, 'DeepMatcher.'
* This article has been translated by AI.
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