"There is no doubt that now is a time when 'cheetah's tears' can become a weakness." -SK Biopharm CEO Lee Dong-hoon"It seems only the companies that can make it here are the ones that survive the competition." -Celltrion CEO Seo Jin-seok
On Jan. 12-15 (local time) in San Francisco, where the world's largest pharma-bio investment event, the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference (JPMHC 2026), is being held, SK Biopharm CEO Lee Dong-hoon and Celltrion CEO Seo Jin-seok described the global pharma-bio outlook this way. In particular, many global pharma-bio leaders, including the two CEOs, all mentioned "artificial intelligence (AI)."
Attending a reception hosted by NVIDIA founder Jensen Huang during the event, CEO Lee said the announcement of a "$1 billion AI-based joint drug discovery" by NVIDIA and the 150-year-old global big pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Company brought to mind "cheetah's tears."
Cheetahs survived the Ice Age, when many mammals went extinct, by repeated inbreeding, but in the process retained genetic traits such as the tear-like streaks under their eyes.
Recently, zoologists tried to boost the cheetah population by gathering them at U.S. zoos for breeding, but because their immune systems are vulnerable to external viruses, disease spread and the population plummeted, and in the end they overcame the cheetah's genetic weakness through "outcrossing."
Lee used this as a metaphor for the pharma-bio industry. In the past, a closed, lab-centered research model was a competitive strength, but now, without a crossbreeding strategy that combines AI and external technology, it can increasingly become a weakness.
Met on site, CEO Seo Jin-seok said, "Even as recently as 2018, the heyday of the pharma-bio industry, the glitz of the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference brought to mind the movie 'The Great Gatsby,' but that scene is gone," adding, "This is not an era when you can stand before investors with only an idea or potential."
Both CEOs are putting their AI strategies into high gear.
Seo said, "Since two years ago, we have introduced AI centered on the new drug discovery organization and built a system that allows in-house analysis and modeling, and starting this year we have entered a cycle of adopting enterprise-wide systems and customizing them to the company." Fields such as factory automation and Robotics are also under review.
AI has taken root not as an experimental tool but as the core of an enterprise-wide strategy.
Seo explained, "The new drug discovery team can conduct genetic analysis and program development using global biobank data." He also said, "We formed an organization to introduce LLMs (large language models), and a team in charge of factory automation will also be formed," adding, "In the past, it was at the level of experimental projects, but now members have reached a level where they can independently analyze data and use AI."
SK Biopharm declared a goal to evolve into an "AI-driven biopharma," a drugmaker that works with AI and has competitiveness backed by speed and accuracy through AI-based research innovation.
CEO Lee Dong-hoon said, "It is time for the pharma-bio industry to boldly attempt outcrossing that achieves technological convergence, moving beyond inbreeding."
There are also questions about how. Lee said, "Putting them in one pen to raise them is not the answer," adding, "A fundamental change (transformation) in the overall research and development (R&D) model must occur, and it must be accompanied by decisions to give up what is mine." Lee also said, "If not, I think AI-based big information technology (big tech) corporations could transform into predators of pharma-bio corporations."
Global pharma-bio leaders gathered at this event share a common thread: they are pushing aggressive technological convergence, research and development (R&D), and organizational innovation to survive global competition.
On the ground at this event, where the fierce competition of global corporations is on full display, the crisis facing domestic pharma-bio corporations that have operated businesses focused on the domestic market and generics (synthetic drug copies) felt even more pronounced.
Success in digital transformation—such as discovering new drug candidates using AI and robot technology, factory automation, and large-scale data analysis—is becoming a prerequisite for Korean pharma-bio to survive in the global market.