LG AI Research has signed a master agreement for a joint next-generation oral peptide drug development project with D&D Pharmatech at the LG Twin Towers in Yeouido, Seoul.

The signing ceremony was attended by key executives from both companies, including Woohyung Lim, Head, LG AI Research; Hwayoung Lee, Head, AI Business Transformation Unit; and Jongseong Jang, Leader, Bio Intelligence Lab from LG AI Research, alongside Seulki Lee, CEO; Sunghoon Hong, CFO from D&D Pharmatech.

Woohyung Lim, Head, LG AI Research, said, "This collaboration goes beyond the simple adoption of technology; it represents a journey toward creating a bio-specialised AI that addresses complex challenges in drug discovery. Through continuous advancements in our protein engineering models, we are actively accelerating the development and optimising the design of next-generation peptide therapeutics."

Peptides are short chains of biologically active amino acids that make up proteins, playing a critical role in precisely regulating physiological functions such as growth and recovery in the human body. While peptides offer high safety profiles by selectively targeting disease-causing agents inside cells—areas difficult for conventional antibody drugs to reach—they have traditionally been developed primarily as injectables due to their vulnerability to decomposition by gastrointestinal digestive enzymes.

Seulki Lee, CEO, D&D Pharmatech, stated, "By combining LG AI Research's cutting-edge technologies and data-driven learning expertise with D&D Pharmatech's extensive experience in peptide development, we will radically enhance the efficiency of drug discovery. In particular, we aim to validate our technical leadership in the global market within highly sought-after fields such as oral peptides, including macrocyclic peptides."

The two companies plan to jointly develop an oral tablet-form treatment for incurable diseases and precision medicine by utilising Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to drastically improve safety and absorption rates. Furthermore, they expect to significantly reduce drug development timelines and costs through AI-driven molecular design technology while improving the clinical success rate of peptide drugs.

The partnership combines LG AI Research's AI-driven drug discovery capabilities with D&D Pharmatech's expertise in peptide development to create next-generation peptide drugs.

LG AI Research will be responsible for developing models that discover and design peptide drug candidates. Utilising models that analyse the structures of disease-causing substances, LG AI Research will design and validate optimal peptide sequences at unprecedented scale overcoming limitations of conventional discovery methods.

D&D Pharmatech will handle the structural design, synthesis, and evaluation of the candidates generated by LG AI Research. For viable drug candidates, D&D Pharmatech will apply its proprietary formulation technologies to enable oral administration, while managing preclinical and clinical development as well as global regulatory approval processes.

Notably, the 2 companies plan to establish a continuous feedback loop: LG AI Research will provide AI-designed candidates, and D&D Pharmatech will validate them, feeding the results back into the system to optimise the model's performance.

LG AI Research has been steadily developing innovative ‘Biology AI’ models to treat various diseases through the convergence of AI and biotechnology.

A prime example is ‘Cancer Agentic AI,’ a personalised precision medicine AI platform being developed in collaboration with Professor Tae Hyun Hwang of the Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Cancer Agentic AI is an end-to-end oncology support platform where AI autonomously analyses everything from cancer tissue samples to optimal treatment strategies to aid medical professionals in their decision-making.

When deployed at hospitals, the platform can shorten biopsy analysis—a process that previously took over 2 weeks—to real-time, enabling rapid treatment. In the pharmaceutical sector, it can drastically reduce both the cost and duration of clinical trials.

In addition, LG AI Research has registered patents for ‘EXAONE Discovery,’ an AI-driven platform for drug and advanced material development, and is actively utilising it in research. Incorporating an ‘AI Co-Scientist’ system that communicates with researchers like a colleague to design experiments and predict outcomes, EXAONE Discovery can discover promising candidate substances at a speed tens of times faster than traditional methods.

With Kwang Mo Koo, Chairman and CEO, LG Corporation, highlighting AI and bio as key future technologies to transform the customer experience, LG is delivering significant results at the intersection of AI and bio-tech driven by open innovation.