CJ Healthcare said that it plans to develop new anticancer drugs jointly with Standigm Inc., a company using artificial intelligence (AI) technology for drug discovery.

Under an accord, Standigm will use its AI ​​platform to discover new compound structures for anticancer drugs, and CJ Healthcare will proceed with the synthesis and evaluation of substances based on these structures, to derive candidates by 2021.

Developing a new drug takes more than 10 years and costs a lot of research and development. Recently, many domestic and foreign pharmaceutical companies are conducting new drug research using the AI platform as one of the ways to increase the development success rate and reduce cost and time, CJ Healthcare said in a press release.

The agreement comes at a time when CJ Healthcare is actively expanding its biopharmaceutical pipeline, including new drugs for cancer and liver disease, by leveraging new drug development know-how and infrastructure.

Standigm is well known for its AI platforms such as Standigm BEST, an AI-based leading material optimization platform, and Standigm InsightTM, a new AI-based indication and mechanism of action prediction platform.

“We will focus our research capabilities to discover innovative anticancer drug candidates and create technology export results using Standigm’s platforms,” a CJ Healthcare official said.