Concerned about a lack of new and domestically developed drugs, the government of Korea is taking active steps to support and encourage the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in drug development.

In March, the Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association (KPBMA), an organization of 195 medical corporations, and the government-affiliated Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI), set up the Center for AI-based New Drug Development Facilitation. Seventeen major Korean pharmaceutical companies – including GC Pharma Corp., Daewoong Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., JW Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Chong Kun Dang Pharmaceutical Corp., Hanmi Pharmaceutical. Co. Ltd., Dong-A ST. Co. Ltd. and LG Chem Ltd. – have been working on the project to set up the center since last year.

The aim of the center is to help the pharmaceutical and biotech industries better use AI in the development of new drugs by linking drug and technology companies, providing education and facilitating the construction of AI platforms to enhance drug innovation and development. The center officially opened on March 20 during a ceremony attended by Health and Welfare Minister Park Neung-hoo, KPBMA Chairman Won Hee-mok and KHIDI President Lee Young-chan.

The pharmaceutical industry has been calling for the development of the new center for several years, but limited recognition of the benefits of AI along with a shortage of developers and limited government support have held back the use of AI in drug development.

Korea has also lagged in the development of new drugs.

According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, South Korean developed 27 new drugs between 1999 and 2016 and total production of those drugs has been worth SKW167.8 billion (US$147 million), just 0.9 percent of total drug production in Korea. Two new drugs were added to the list in 2018.

More widespread use of AI may help spur drug development. AI engines can search tens of thousands of research papers a day while facilitating innovation, perhaps cutting down on the average of 15 years that it takes to develop a new drug.

Creating an ecosystem

In order to create an ecosystem for AI-based drug development, the center will have to accomplish two major tasks.

The first is to train professionals in both AI and medicine. In order to provide the relevant education, the center is going to open training programs in pharmacology or bioinformatics.

The second is to work with IT professionals who may also be familiar with biotechnology to start new businesses combining both fields.

"As there are not many experts knowledgeable both in AI and medicine, the professional committee of the center has worked on exchanges between Korean and overseas professionals since 2018," Pae Young-woo, CEO of AI-based drug discovery company Medirita Inc. and a member of the centers professional committee, told BioWorld.

The center held an AI Pharma Korea Conference last year to bring together Korean and foreign pharmaceutical companies. Another similar event is scheduled this month.

"This event is to foster the environment to find opportunities for collaborations between domestic and foreign pharmaceutical businesses," Pae said.

The center is also working on building datasets based on patient data.

"The more data of anonymous patients, the more helpful to the development of new medicines. However, big data [accounts for] a very small part in innovation of medicines in Korea," Pae said.

The Korean government also plans to invest SKW27.7 billion (US$24.2 million) by 2021 to improve AI platforms for new drug development. In turn, pharmaceutical corporations, AI companies and universities will create a consortium to enhance the use of AI and initiate joint research projects. The plan is to share the new AI platform.

In addition, the government launched a three-year research project to construct a new drug development platform using AI. There are also plans to invest roughly $6.5 million on research into the discovery of drug candidate compounds, finding new indications for existing drugs, drug monitoring and support for the new AI platform.

Government trailing industry

This new government focus to support pharmaceutical companies comes a little late for many biotech and pharmaceutical companies given the growth of the industry. Some major pharmaceutical companies in the country have already launched new drug development programs using AI. More than 20 companies, including Daewoong Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Hanmi Pharmaceutical and Yuhan Pharmaceuticals have moved down that path.

In 2014, Daewoong created an AI research team to track links between diseases and drugs and to find drug candidates tailored to patients.

Standigm Inc. attracted more than $11 million in investment from six venture capital firms, including Kakao Ventures, in March. The biomedical company plans to evolve its AI-based drug discovery technology and apply for patents.

The company has also created Standigm Insight, which focuses on the discovery of unknown medicinal effects among existing drugs, and Standigm Best, which focuses on how changes to the molecular structure may help find new candidate materials. Those efforts have helped find new drug candidates for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, autism and Parkinson's disease. The company is also conducting clinical trials with the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Ajou University Medical School, the Korea Pasteur Institute and Kyunghee University Medical School.