“Genetic big data will revolutionize drug development.”
Tyson
Kim, CEO of Syntekabio and the front-runner in converging drug development and
information technology (IT), said so. Kim was explaining how big data and
artificial intelligence (AI) will change the current drug development
procedure.
Kim,
a graduate of Inha University School of Medicine, has had a unique journey to
lead one of the most innovative biotech firms in Korea. After finishing his
internship at Kyunghee University Hospital, Kim took off his medical gown to
join MSD Korea’s edit to Medical Affair Division as a medical advisor instead
of becoming a doctor. He went on to work at the company for four years before
joining Syntekabio as its vice president in 2015. A year later, the company
promoted Kim to the chief executive officer after witnessing his business
development capabilities.
Syntekabio
is a company that utilizes genomic big data to usher in a tailored medical
service era. It uses bioinformatics, which includes its in-silico platform, a
virtual clinical trial system using computer simulation techniques for the
development of new drugs. The system can also algorithmically identify
disease-related and mutational potentials in genes, as well as recommending a
tailored medication to patients.
Kim
stressed the company could significantly improve the success rate and change
the conventional drug development method by combining AI and big genomic data
analysis technology to discover the significant mutation algorithms of genes.
“A new drug development normally takes 12 to 15 years,” Kim said.
“When I worked at MSD, I learned that reduction of mere three months from the
development phase could save upwards of 300 billion won ($283.4 million) for
the company, these savings were particularly acute when the drug ended up being
a blockbuster and if the company fails phase 3 clinical trials they normally
have to layoff up to 3,000 employees.”
However,
with the success rate of the current cohort based drug development only
standing at 1 to 2 percent, Kim believes it is essential for the industry to
move onto the next era, which will revolve around AI drug discovery and
bioinformatics platforms.
“The drug development industry using cohort study has reached its limit,”
he said. “Major multi-national companies still selling drugs even after their
patent expires is proof of such limits as it shows that the new drugs are not
coming out on the market.”
Such
facts prove that personalized medication using technologies from the Fourth
Industrial revolution such as AI and big data will become the next phase in
drug development, he added.
Kim
also expects that the personalized medication age can help those excluded from
the current cohort system study.
“Bioinformatics platform along with the company’s Personal Genome Map
(Pmap), which contains genome big data analysis on various diseases such as
cancer and rare diseases, can help solve illnesses that are currently
untreatable,” he said. “It can also help patients that were left out of the
cohort group for various reasons such as not fitting the profile of the
clinical trial.”
To
realize the company’s dream, Syntekabio is currently using its two platforms –
in-silico and Pmap -- with Kainos Medicine in developing a treatment for
Parkinson’s disease.
“We received hundreds of Parkinson’s disease patient gene data from
various organizations such as the Michael J. Fox Foundation, Pitié-Salpêtrière
Hospital in France and the NIH in the U.S.,” Kim said. “We analyzed the genes
that cause Parkinson's disease and have contributed to the development of the
new therapeutic agent by Kainos Medicine.”
Kainos
is currently preparing to initiate phase 2 clinical trials in June, Kim noted.
The
company has also signed an agreement with CJ Healthcare to co-develop a new
immunotherapy using AI in December of last year.
Syntekabio
will handle the drug development process, including virtual discovery and lead
compounds discovery, while CJ Healthcare will be responsible for clinical
trials and commercialization.
With
regards to expanding its cloud-based genomic big data analysis, the company has
signed a strategic alliance agreement with Naver Business Platform (NBP).
“I believe in the future, all clinical trials – non-clinical,
pre-clinical, phase 1, 2 and 3 – will all converge into a single form by using
the AI drug discovery and bioinformatics platforms,” he added.
Kim
emphasized that to witness the future Korea, it needs to focus on completing
the tailored treatment field instead of trying to compete with other foreign
countries.
“Korea is a small country, and I believe we should be focusing on
where the end game is rather than trying to compete with large countries such
as the U.S., EU, and China,” he said. “If we can all focus on reaching our
goals, it is not impossible for Korea to come up with the next multinational
pharmaceutical company such as Merck, Pfizer, Roche, and Novartis.“
