Daewoong Pharmaceutical and AI Company Oncocross Collaborate on New Drug Development Research

"Expectations for Shortening Drug Development Process Using Oncocross AI Platform"

At the Daewoong Pharmaceutical headquarters on the 22nd, Jeon Seung-ho, CEO of Daewoong Pharmaceutical (left), and Kim I-rang, CEO of Oncocross, are taking a commemorative photo at the Daewoong Pharmaceutical-Oncocross MOU signing ceremony. (Photo by Daewoong Pharmaceutical)

[Asia Economy Reporter Jihee Kim] Daewoong Pharmaceutical is joining forces with an artificial intelligence (AI) specialized company to strengthen its new drug development capabilities.

On the 23rd, Daewoong Pharmaceutical announced that it signed a joint research and development agreement with Oncocross, an AI-based new drug development specialist company, at its headquarters in Samseong-dong on the 22nd. Daewoong Pharmaceutical plans to apply Oncocross's gene expression pattern-based AI platform, 'RAPTOR AI,' to its developing new drugs 'Inavogliflozin' and 'DWN12088' to expand their indications. The indications for Inavogliflozin, originally being developed as a diabetes treatment, will be expanded to cover metabolic diseases such as obesity, cardiovascular diseases, and kidney diseases. For DWN12088, a PRS-targeted therapeutic for intractable fibrosis appearing in the lungs, kidneys, and skin, new possibilities such as anticancer drugs will be explored.

Utilizing Oncocross's AI platform is expected to significantly shorten the new drug development process by enabling the rapid discovery of optimal therapeutic combinations.

Oncocross possesses AI platform technology and related big data for discovering new drug candidates and new indications. Recognized for its future value, the company has attracted a total investment of 25.5 billion KRW through Series A and B funding rounds in 2019 and 2020 since its establishment in 2015. Daewoong Pharmaceutical also plans to make a strategic investment in Oncocross following the research and development agreement.

Seungho Jeon, CEO of Daewoong Pharmaceutical, said, "We expect that the excellent bioinformatics-based AI platform of Oncocross combined with Daewoong Pharmaceutical's strong new drug development capabilities will establish a successful model of open collaboration," adding, "Through this agreement, we will expand our new drug pipeline and do our best to contribute to improving patients' quality of life."

Irang Kim, CEO of Oncocross, stated, "We will strive to change the existing paradigm of new drug development by combining our AI technology with Daewoong Pharmaceutical's new drug development capabilities and to create an opportunity for the Korean pharmaceutical industry to take a leap forward."

Meanwhile, Daewoong Pharmaceutical has been conducting joint research since last year with the U.S.-based AI new drug development company A2A Pharma, which specializes in elucidating new target protein structures, for anticancer drug development. Daewoong Pharmaceutical plans to maximize the productivity and value of its new drug pipeline by integrating the data accumulated so far with the collaboration data from Oncocross.

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