JW Pharmaceutical said that it would cooperate with Syntekabio in developing innovative new drugs based on artificial intelligence.
Under the accord, the two companies will expand the scope of existing joint research to discover first-in-class candidate materials that target specific disease-causing proteins. They will also accelerate the discovery of innovative drug candidates using the AI drug development platform and drug 3D simulation technology secured by Syntekabio.
In 2018, the two companies signed a research cooperation agreement to identify biomarkers of new drug candidates under development by using Syntekabio's drug reactivity prediction technology.
They will also cooperate to expand indications for new drug pipelines and repurpose existing drugs.
"We are very happy to strengthen the friendly cooperative relationship with JW Pharmaceutical and to expand the scope of cooperation by using our DeepMatcher solution to enter into joint research for new drug development targeting specific target proteins," Syntekabio CEO Jung Jong-sun said. "Through close cooperation between the two companies, we will make active efforts to achieve innovative results in the field of AI-based drug development in the future."
JW Pharmaceutical CEO Lee Sung-yeol also said, "The development of basic science has allowed us to identify new protein pathways and correlations between diseases, and competition for new drug development targeting them is fierce."
Based on Syntekabio's big data and AI-based technology, the company will speed up the development of new medicines tailored to patients, Lee added.