Kakao Brain-Galax Collaborate to Conquer Intractable Diseases

Kakao Brain CEO Kim Il-du (right) and Galaxy CEO Seok Cha-ok (left) attended the joint research contract signing ceremony.

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Kakao Brain announced on the 11th that it has signed a five-year joint research and development agreement with ‘Galaxy,’ an AI-based new drug development company strategically invested in by Kakao Brain, to build an AI-based antibody drug design platform.

AI-based antibody drug design technology is a highly competitive global field and is called a dream technology that can change the paradigm of new drug development because it can be applied to conquer various intractable diseases. Through this joint research, Kakao Brain and Galaxy plan to develop the world’s top-level ‘AI-based antibody drug design platform,’ which will serve as a foundation to rapidly discover new antibody therapeutics that do not yet exist in the world.

Based on Kakao Brain’s know-how in developing ultra-large AI technology and Galaxy’s expertise in protein design technology, the two companies will conduct ▲prediction of antigen-antibody binding structure and binding affinity, which is the foundational technology ▲antibody design applying the foundational technology ▲experimental verification of the design technology during the five-year joint research period.

Founded in 2020, Galaxy is an AI-based new drug development company leading innovation in drug development based on in silico molecular design technology accumulated over more than 15 years at Seoul National University. In particular, its proprietary in silico technology has proven its capabilities multiple times in global prediction competitions such as CASP, the international protein structure prediction competition, and CAPRI, the international protein-protein interaction prediction competition.

Galaxy closed a Series A round worth 19 billion KRW on July 6. In December last year, Kakao Brain invested 5 billion KRW, which is more than a quarter of the Series A funding, in Galaxy to enter and establish itself early in the global AI new drug development market.

Meanwhile, Kakao Brain formed an AI new drug development team last year by newly recruiting Dr. Lee Yuhan, a Kaggle Grandmaster and a KAIST Department of Bio and Chemical Engineering alumnus, and many researchers with experience in in silico material development and AI development joined the team. Led by Team Leader Lee Yuhan, who is in charge of research and development of ultra-large AI new drug development algorithms, Kakao Brain plans to closely cooperate with Galaxy to lead the global AI-based new drug design field.

Kim Ildoo, CEO of Kakao Brain, said, “We hope to innovate the global in silico new drug development market based on our AI capabilities,” and added, “Using this joint research as a stepping stone, we will maximize synergy with Galaxy and achieve joint growth to exert greater social influence in the global medical market where timeliness is key.”

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