[Korean News] New roles for South Korea's 'Convergence AI Institute for Drug Discovery'

Earlier this year, The 'Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association(KPBMA)' officially launched the 'Convergence AI Institute for Drug Discovery(CAIID)' and held the grand opening ceremony on January 31st.

The South Korean CAIID aims to serve as a hub for jointly planning and executing digital convergence research and aims to establish safe utilization platform for diverse data, which may enhance the performance of AI. 

The CAIID's head Hwajong Kim stated, "Currently, pharmaceutical companies are collaborating individually with AI companies. However, there is no perfect match between the data held by pharmaceutical companies and the advantages of each solution provider." He continued, "Since each pharmaceutical company possesses different data, the approach to AI should also vary. However, at this point, we cannot predict this in advance, which limits us." He emphasized, "It is not a stage to debate whether this business will succeed or not but rather a situation where we need to invest more quickly and find shortcuts." He highlighted, "One of those shortcuts is K-Melody, and we should prepare for proactive changes in various aspects, including this."

Chairman of the KPBMA Yunhong Noh, in his opening remarks at the opening ceremony, emphasized the need for a concerted effort between the public and private sectors to seize the initiative in the AI convergence market. He urged experts to collaborate and support the newly established CAIID in fostering an ecosystem for AI drug development in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry.

It is much anticipated now with the new launch of the South Korean Convergence AI Institute for Drug Discovery(CAIID), to expect Korean pharmaceutical bio companies, medical institutions, AI solution companies, and public institutions collaborate based on data to create an effective AI ecosystem.