LG AI Research Institute and DnD Pharmatech to Develop AI-Based Peptide New Drugs

Main Contract Signed for Joint Drug Development Project
Designing Drug Candidates with AI
Joint Development of Oral Tablet Therapeutics

LG AI Research Institute is partnering with the biotech company DnD Pharmatech to jointly develop next-generation peptide new drugs.

On June 16, LG AI Research Institute signed the main contract for the joint development project of next-generation peptide new drugs with DnD Pharmatech at the LG Twin Towers in Yeouido, Seoul. The event was attended by Woo-Hyung Lim, Head of LG AI Research Institute, Hwa-Young Lee, Head of Business Development, and Jong-Sung Jang, Head of Bio Intelligence Lab from LG AI Research Institute, as well as Seulgi Lee, CEO, Sung-Hoon Hong, Vice President, and Eunji Park, Head of R&D from DnD Pharmatech.

Woo-Hyung Lim, Co-Head of LG AI Research Institute, stated, "This collaboration goes beyond simple technology adoption, representing the process of building bio-specialized AI to solve the complex challenges of drug discovery with artificial intelligence. We will actively cooperate to simultaneously accelerate the development of next-generation peptide drugs and increase their chances of success by leveraging AI-based protein design technology."

On the afternoon of the 16th, Woohyeong Lim, Director of LG AI Research Institute (left), and Seulgi Lee, CEO of D&D Pharmatech (right), signed the main contract for the joint development project of next-generation peptide new drugs at the LG Twin Towers in Yeouido, Seoul. Photo by LG Co., Ltd.

Seulgi Lee, CEO of DnD Pharmatech, said, "We will innovatively enhance the efficiency of AI-based drug development by combining LG AI Research Institute's world-class AI capabilities and data-driven learning expertise with DnD Pharmatech's experience in peptide development. In particular, we aim to demonstrate our technological leadership in the rapidly growing field of oral peptides, such as macrocyclic peptides, in the global market."

Peptides are bioactive substances composed of short chains of amino acids that form proteins and play a key role in precisely regulating recovery and growth in the human body. While peptides have the advantage of selectively acting only on intracellular disease-causing agents that are difficult for antibody drugs to target—thus offering a high safety profile—they have traditionally been primarily developed as injectables since they are easily degraded by digestive enzymes in the stomach.

The two companies plan to leverage AI technology to dramatically improve safety and absorption, and jointly develop oral tablet formulations as innovative new drugs for intractable diseases and precision medicine. They also expect that AI-based molecular design technology will significantly reduce drug development time and costs, while increasing the clinical success rate of peptide new drugs.

By combining AI technological capabilities with expertise in peptide new drug development, the two companies aim to develop next-generation peptide therapeutics. LG AI Research Institute will create AI models that analyze the structure of disease-causing agents, design optimal peptide sequences that are difficult to discover using conventional methods, and identify drug candidates.

DnD Pharmatech will be responsible for the structural design, synthesis, and evaluation of the AI-derived candidates, applying its proprietary technology to optimize molecular structures and oversee all stages from oral formulation development to preclinical and clinical trials, as well as global regulatory approval. In particular, the companies will establish a cyclical system in which DnD Pharmatech verifies the AI-designed candidates and feeds the results back into the AI model, thereby continuously enhancing model performance.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.