Hyun Shin-gyun, president of LG CNS. [LG CNS]
Hyun Shin-gyun, president of LG CNS. [LG CNS]

LG CNS has built an AI-powered drug development platform that supports the key stages of new drug research in a single, integrated environment.

LG CNS said Wednesday it had completed the "AI Drug Development Platform" for Dong-A Socio Group in collaboration with DAI, the group's IT affiliate.

The two companies spent about six months building the platform, which consolidates drug research data and uses AI to support the entire process from candidate compound discovery through verification.

A key feature is the platform's ability to continuously link AI prediction results with actual experimental data for retraining, allowing predictive accuracy to improve as research progresses.

Through the platform, LG CNS has integrated and standardized previously scattered drug research data — including compound and genomic information, experimental results, academic papers and patents. Researchers can now access all the data they need from a single platform and run AI analysis and prediction functions with just a few clicks, the company said.

The AI platform supports each major stage of drug development in sequence.

In the disease-target identification stage, the platform uses AI to analyze and visualize gene expression data at the cellular level alongside spatial tissue information, helping researchers identify treatment targets. In the candidate design stage, generative AI directly proposes new molecular structures that meet specified conditions. In the verification stage, the platform screens promising candidates and runs virtual simulations in a computational environment before actual laboratory experiments begin.

LG CNS headquarters. [LG CNS]
LG CNS headquarters. [LG CNS]

The platform is also designed for continuous AI model improvement. It compares AI predictions against actual experimental results and feeds the differences back into model retraining. Predictive performance will grow more sophisticated as research data accumulates, the company said.

LG CNS expects the platform to accelerate drug development and improve quality, with accumulated research data serving as a reusable asset. The company has also put in place a governance framework to meet the regulatory and security requirements of the pharmaceutical industry, given the sensitivity of drug research data.

"We will contribute to AI-driven innovation in drug research and development across Korea's pharmaceutical and biotech industries through our differentiated AI transformation technology and specialized expertise in the sector," said Lee Jae-seung, executive vice president in charge of LG CNS's cloud business. "We will actively support our customers in strengthening their drug development competitiveness."

Meanwhile, LG CNS is participating as a service provider in the "K-AI New Drug Development Preclinical and Clinical Model Development Project (R&D)" led by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. The national research project will receive about 37.1 billion won ($26.2 million) in government funding over four years and three months. LG CNS is leading development of an "AI-based clinical trial design and support platform for drug development" under the project. The company has also completed an automated product quality evaluation system for Chong Kun Dang.


sjpark@heraldcorp.com