The Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association (KPBMA) will establish the country's first practical, AI-based drug development education infrastructure through its AI Drug Convergence Research Center.
The AI Drug Convergence Research Center noted on the 29th that it has successfully won the government project 'Education and Promotion of Drug Development Using Artificial Intelligence (AI)' from the Ministry of Health and Welfare and will begin building the infrastructure in earnest starting next month.
The AI Drug Convergence Research Center started as the AI Drug Development Support Center of the KPBMA in 2019 and was reorganized into the AI Drug Convergence Research Center in January this year. This reflects the trend of AI emerging as a game changer in drug development within the pharmaceutical and bio industry.
According to the Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association (KPBMA), traditional drug development takes an average of 13 to 15 years and costs about $2.5 billion (approximately 3.4 trillion won). The success rate for Phase 1 clinical trials is less than 10%. In contrast, utilizing AI significantly accelerates the processes of exploring initial candidates, target analysis, and molecular design. Recently, it has been analyzed that the success rate for Phase 1 clinical trials of AI-based drug candidates reaches 80 to 90%.
Global large corporations are also aggressively investing in AI technology and infrastructure. Domestic corporations are challenging drug development using AI, and there have been calls within the industry for the need to cultivate AI talent specialized in pharmaceuticals and bio, along with an educational foundation.
The core of this project is the SDL (Self-Driving Lab) practical infrastructure. SDL is a next-generation research system that combines AI algorithms with robotic experimental devices to autonomously design, execute, and analyze experiments. Simply put, it is an educational space where researchers can practice using AI in the drug development process.
The research center has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Acceleration Consortium under the University of Toronto in Canada for international cooperation and has decided to introduce the SDL curriculum and operational know-how. It will also expand its cooperative network in conjunction with AI corporations, universities, and research institutes.
Soo-hee Pyo, the vice president of the AI Drug Convergence Research Center, said, 'The pharmaceutical and bio industry is at a turning point where the paradigm of drug development is changing,' and added, 'The AI Drug Convergence Research Center will play a role in accelerating the birth of future drug development talents and innovative technologies through a curriculum reflecting the industry's needs and a practical-centered infrastructure, along with international cooperation.'
The AI Drug Convergence Research Center operates a committee and council consisting of over 80 experts and has been expanding its cooperative ecosystem by signing memorandums of understanding (MOU) with 16 industry-academia-research institutions, including Seoul Asan Medical Center and Samsung Medical Center. Last year, it won the K-Melody project, a joint research and development (R&D) project with the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Science and ICT. Through this, it is developing an AI predictive model using federated learning technology that allows for learning without directly sharing sensitive data.