Daewoong Pharmaceutical and Ajos Bio Sign Joint Research Agreement for AI-Based Anticancer Drug Development

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] Daewoong Pharmaceutical announced on the 28th that it has signed a research and development contract for synthetic lethality anticancer new drugs using artificial intelligence (AI) with Aijos Bio.

Through this contract, Aijos Bio will search for synthetic lethality anticancer drug candidates based on its proprietary AI platform, and Daewoong Pharmaceutical plans to conduct efficacy evaluation, clinical development, and commercialization of the candidate substances.

Synthetic lethality refers to the phenomenon where a cell dies when two or more interacting genes simultaneously lose their function. In cancer cells with mutations in tumor suppressor genes, one gene's function is already lost, so if the function of another gene interacting with the mutated tumor suppressor gene is inhibited, the cancer cells die due to synthetic lethality.

Conversely, normal cells have normal tumor suppressor gene function, so even if the function of the interacting gene is inhibited by synthetic lethality, they do not die. For this reason, the development of anticancer drugs based on the principle of synthetic lethality, which selectively kills only cells with tumor gene mutations, has recently attracted attention.

Daewoong Pharmaceutical expects to significantly shorten the research period and increase the success rate of anticancer drug development by discovering optimal anticancer drug candidates through Aijos Bio’s AI platform (iSTAs), and to expand its new drug pipeline in the anticancer field.

Jeon Seung-ho, CEO of Daewoong Pharmaceutical, said, “We consider it meaningful to promote open collaboration with Aijos Bio, which has established an innovative new drug platform, as we continue to strengthen new drug development using AI,” and added, “Through this agreement, we will accelerate the development of next-generation anticancer drugs and contribute to improving patients’ quality of life.”

Shin Jae-min, CEO of Aijos Bio, said, “Daewoong Pharmaceutical is a company that has contributed to the development of the pharmaceutical industry through long-term new drug development and supply,” and expressed hope that combining Daewoong Pharmaceutical’s R&D capabilities with our AI technology will lead to the development of highly effective therapeutics.”