[Special Stock] Syntekabio Finds COVID-19 Treatment Substance in 6 Weeks... Proving AI Drug Development Value

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] As the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) spreads again, gene big data company Syntekabio is continuing its stock price rise by showcasing its drug development capabilities through artificial intelligence (AI).

As of 11:05 a.m. on the 10th, Syntekabio was trading at 16,150 KRW, up 17.03% (2,350 KRW) compared to the previous trading day.

Syntekabio recently discovered one final candidate drug among 30 potential drugs expected to be effective in treating COVID-19 and filed a use patent (patent for a specific substance).

The final substance selected by Syntekabio is known to have a COVID-19 treatment effect comparable to Remdesivir, which has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a COVID-19 treatment. Syntekabio discovered the therapeutic substance using a large-scale supercomputer.

Through the Protein Data Bank (PDB), the structure of the protease enzyme, which is key to the expression and replication of the COVID-19 virus gene, was first revealed in February. Using a supercomputer, they analyzed over 2,700 FDA-approved drugs expected to react with the protein structure.

Syntekabio connects 960 advanced computers in parallel to achieve supercomputer performance. Industry insiders regard it as virtually unmatched in performance within South Korea. The total time taken to generate the drug repositioning model and conduct initial experimental verification in the process of discovering the final COVID-19 treatment candidate was only six weeks. Reducing R&D time and costs is the greatest value of Syntekabio's AI solution. It is significant that this was verified through the COVID-19 crisis.

Researcher Byunghwa Lee of KB Securities analyzed, "The trend of integrating AI into new drug development is rapidly spreading," and added, "Syntekabio also possesses the technological capability for licensing-in and repositioning of drugs at the clinical stage."

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