SK Biopharm has signed a strategic memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the AI corporation PhnyX Lab in Silicon Valley, United States, to establish an AI-based drug development system. The signing ceremony took place on the 17th (local time) at the SK Biopharm exhibition booth during the Bio International Convention (BioUSA) held in Boston, United States.
PhnyX Lab is an AI startup established in Silicon Valley in September 2024 by graduates of Stanford University's Department of Computer Science. The founders are talents who have won awards at international programming competitions and math olympiads, as well as the Indian Physics Olympiad. PhnyX Lab has developed Cheiron, a generative AI specialized in the medical field. Generative AI is a technology that learns data to create novel content such as text, images, and videos.
Cheiron has automated the entire process from literature review to report writing by analyzing academic data. It has enhanced accuracy and effectiveness tailored to the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries by utilizing official databases from major regulatory agencies such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, as well as the Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) classification system.
Through this agreement, the two companies plan to jointly develop a customized solution that automates tasks such as literature search, data analysis, and document preparation necessary for SK Biopharm's drug development process, based on the generative AI engine Cheiron from PhnyX Lab.
SK Biopharm anticipates that the automation of the document preparation tasks required for the entry stage of clinical trials using generative AI will enhance research and development (R&D) productivity and drastically reduce the time and expense required for development and approval.
The company currently actively utilizes its own AI HUBLETM in the early stages of drug development, such as disease-causing gene and protein analysis and candidate substance development. Through this collaboration, it plans to broaden the application of AI and develop it into a solution to maximize productivity across all operations.
Baemin-seok, CEO of PhnyX Lab, said, "This agreement will serve as evidence that generative AI solutions can be applied in the field to enhance both efficiency and precision in the pharmaceutical industry."
Lee Dong-hoon, CEO of SK Biopharm, stated, "We will strengthen AI application throughout the entire drug development process through collaboration with PhnyX Lab and enhance our competitiveness in the global market."