HK inno.N and Atomatrix to Jointly Develop AI-Based Obesity Treatments

Aiming to Develop Non-Incretin Class Obesity Treatments

On April 27, HK inno.N announced that it has signed a joint research and development agreement with Atomatrix for the development of next-generation obesity treatments.

The goal of this agreement is to discover novel small molecule candidates with new mechanisms of action that can overcome the limitations of incretin-based obesity treatments (such as GLP-1 receptor agonists) by utilizing an artificial intelligence (AI) and computer simulation-based drug design platform.

HK inno.N will be responsible for drug synthesis and biological evaluation to verify the efficacy and safety of the candidates. Atomatrix will design and select candidate substances using its proprietary drug design platform, CANDDIE.

CANDDIE is an AI and computer simulation-based molecular dynamics (MD) drug design platform. It can analyze not only the binding stability between target proteins and candidate molecules but also the pharmacological responses that occur after binding. According to the company, the platform allows for proactive risk management from the early stages of research, which can reduce both development time and costs.

Park Byungchul, Head of the New Drug Research Institute at HK inno.N, stated, "We are actively pursuing non-incretin class drugs that can overcome the gastrointestinal side effects and muscle loss associated with conventional obesity treatments. By combining the strengths of both companies, we will make every effort to swiftly identify promising candidates and accelerate their subsequent development."

Lee Eunho, CEO of Atomatrix, said, "For biologically complex targets, a precise approach that combines data-driven interpretation with physics-based simulation is essential. Through this collaboration, we will demonstrate that our drug design platform can lead to the actual discovery of candidate substances."

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