"I Will Compete with Big Pharma" Daewoong Pharmaceutical Develops Independent AI New Drug Development System

Daewoong Pharmaceutical announced on the 19th that it has established its own artificial intelligence (AI) new drug development systems, 'DAVID' and 'DAISY.' Based on this, the company plans to expand the use of AI throughout the entire new drug development cycle, including preclinical, clinical, and commercialization stages.

A researcher at Daewoong Pharmaceutical is exploring new drug candidate compounds through an AI new drug development system.
[Photo by Daewoong Pharmaceutical]

Daewoong Pharmaceutical recently developed DAVID, a molecular model database of 800 million chemical compounds that can be immediately used for new drug development, and DAISY, an AI new drug development system.

DAVID stands for 'Daewoong Advanced Virtual Database.' It also embodies the company's determination to compete with global big pharma in AI new drug development, just as King David from the Old Testament defeated Goliath with a single strike.

The figure of 800 million represents the number of chemical compounds Daewoong Pharmaceutical has secured through over 40 years of new drug research, encompassing nearly all chemical compounds currently available for new drug development. A Daewoong Pharmaceutical official explained, "Without high-quality data, AI is useless; the 800 million compound data serve as nourishment for AI growth." He added, "Building this database lays the foundation for a quantum leap in the AI new drug development competition, and Daewoong Pharmaceutical has now completed the groundwork."

Park Jun-seok, head of the New Drug Discovery Center, stated, "It is no exaggeration to say that AI has opened a new era of great voyages in new drug development." He added, "If we pioneer unknown territories with AI, we will be able to develop many more new drug candidates and excellent new drugs faster, making a significant contribution to human health."

Daewoong Pharmaceutical also created the AI new drug development system DAISY last year, based on this database and the AIVS tool, which accelerates the search for new drug candidates. DAISY stands for 'Daewoong AI System.' DAISY is a kind of web-based AI new drug development portal, and researchers at Daewoong Pharmaceutical who access DAISY can discover new chemical compounds and quickly predict their drug properties.

Daewoong Pharmaceutical explained that by utilizing this new drug development system, it took only two months to discover and optimize active substances that simultaneously act on two target proteins in the development of obesity and diabetes treatments. Additionally, it took only six months to discover and secure active substances showing cancer cell inhibitory effects. The company stated that although these projects typically take more than a year, they succeeded in solving the problems in a short time through AI.