A New Turning Point in Biotech Innovation: AI-Driven Drug Development Reshaping the Industry by 2025
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Structural Changes in the Biotech Industry Driven by AI Innovation
In 2025, the biotech industry is experiencing an unprecedented wave of change through the integration with artificial intelligence technology. The global AI-based drug development market has grown to $15.2 billion this year, marking an impressive 47% increase from the previous year. Notably, the average development period for new drugs, which traditionally took 10-15 years, is being reduced to 6-8 years with the introduction of AI. This transformation goes beyond mere efficiency improvements, fundamentally reshaping the business models of biotech companies.
Gilead Sciences, based in Foster City, California, has positioned itself as a leader in this trend. The company’s AI drug development platform, ‘Gilead AI Lab,’ announced in the fourth quarter of 2024, is currently developing 12 drug candidates simultaneously, with three expected to enter Phase 2 clinical trials in the first half of next year. Although the AI-based drug development division accounts for only 8% of Gilead’s 2024 annual revenue of $27 billion, the company aims to increase this share to 25% by 2027. This translates to approximately $6.8 billion in annual AI drug development revenue, and industry experts believe this goal is achievable.
Meanwhile, Biogen, headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is intensively utilizing AI technology in the development of Alzheimer’s treatments. The next-generation Alzheimer’s treatment ‘BIO-2025,’ under development by the company, shows a 30% improved brain penetration rate compared to existing aducanumab through AI modeling. Of Biogen’s $3.4 billion R&D investment in 2024, 42% or $1.43 billion was allocated to AI-based drug development, representing a 78% increase from the previous year. Notably, Biogen’s $1.2 billion AI collaboration agreement with Google DeepMind over three years has increased protein structure prediction accuracy to 94%.
In the Asian market, Korea is emerging as a hub for biotech AI innovation. Samsung Biologics, headquartered in Incheon, announced a 23% improvement in production efficiency by introducing an AI-based biopharmaceutical production optimization system in the first half of 2025. Of the company’s 2024 revenue of 3.2 trillion won, AI-related services accounted for 12%, doubling from the previous year. Samsung Biologics plans to invest a total of 800 billion won in AI infrastructure by 2026, aiming to further strengthen its competitiveness in the global CDMO (Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization) market. Particularly, the company’s AI-based cell line development platform, which reduced the cell line development period from six months to two months, is attracting industry attention.
Global Competitive Landscape and Technological Differentiation Strategies
The competition in the biotech AI field is transforming into a fierce battleground to secure technological superiority. Celltrion, headquartered in Songdo, has significantly enhanced its biosimilar development capabilities through its self-developed AI platform ‘CellAI.’ In 2024, products incorporating AI technology accounted for 35% of Celltrion’s 2.8 trillion won biosimilar revenue, significantly exceeding the industry average of 18%. The CellAI platform demonstrates a 97.3% accuracy in molecular structure analysis, which is 8-12% higher than competitors. Notably, the next-generation rheumatoid arthritis treatment under development by the company achieved a 40% improvement in bioavailability through AI modeling compared to existing products.
Another major player in the domestic pharmaceutical industry, Yuhan Corporation, is taking a unique approach in the AI drug development field. The company, headquartered in Seoul, garnered attention by establishing the ‘Yuhan-Stanford AI Drug Discovery Lab’ in collaboration with Stanford University in the second half of 2024. A total of $280 million will be invested in this lab over the next five years, focusing on the development of anticancer and dementia treatments. Of Yuhan’s 2024 revenue of 2.1 trillion won, 120 billion won was invested in AI drug development, representing an aggressive investment level of 5.7% of revenue. The company’s AI-based compound screening system can analyze an average of 150,000 compounds per day, boasting a speed 200 times faster than traditional methods.
GC Pharma is pursuing a differentiated strategy by integrating AI technology based on its long-standing experience in the blood products field. The company, headquartered in Yongin, launched the ‘GC AI Blood Platform’ in early 2025, utilizing AI for quality control and production optimization of blood products. Through this platform, GC Pharma reduced the defect rate in the blood product production process from 0.8% to 0.2%, resulting in an annual cost-saving effect of approximately 15 billion won. Of GC Pharma’s 2024 revenue of 1.9 trillion won, sales of products incorporating AI technology reached 320 billion won, a 45% increase from the previous year. Particularly, the AI-based personalized blood products under development by the company predict the optimal dosage for each patient with 92% accuracy, significantly enhancing treatment efficacy.
JW Pharmaceutical is pursuing innovation using AI technology in the field of gastrointestinal disease treatments. The company, headquartered in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, developed the AI-based intestinal microbiome analysis platform ‘JW MicroAI’ in the second half of 2024, embarking on the development of personalized gastrointestinal treatments. This platform analyzes a patient’s intestinal microbiome data to propose optimal treatment methods, currently demonstrating a 67% improvement in treatment efficacy compared to existing methods in clinical trials. Of JW Pharmaceutical’s 2024 revenue of 780 billion won, AI-related R&D investment was 28 billion won, accounting for 3.6% of revenue. The company plans to increase this share to 7% by 2026, aiming to secure global competitiveness in the field of gastrointestinal disease treatments.
Examining the competitive landscape in the global market, it is noteworthy that while American and European companies still hold technological superiority, the pursuit by Asian companies is accelerating. According to industry analysis, the market share of American companies in the AI drug development field decreased slightly from 62% in 2023 to 58% in 2024, while the share of Asian companies increased from 23% to 28% during the same period. Particularly for Korean companies, with the government’s K-Bio policy support and increased private investment, their presence in the global market is gradually growing. According to the Korea Biotechnology Industry Organization, domestic biotech companies’ AI-related investments totaled 3.2 trillion won in 2024, a 52% increase from the previous year, with 68% allocated to drug development.
From a technological perspective, the most notable technologies in the current biotech AI field are molecular design using generative AI and protein structure prediction. Protein structure prediction technology, represented by AlphaFold, has already entered the commercialization stage, with the success rate of drug target discovery using this technology significantly improving from 5-8% to 15-20%. Additionally, the ‘BioLLM’ technology, which applies large language models (LLM) to biological data, is rapidly advancing. This technology is used to predict the toxicity and efficacy of drug candidates by learning vast biological literature and experimental data, with a current prediction accuracy of 85%.
Investment Trends and Future Prospects
The investment fever in the biotech AI field is heating up even more in 2025. According to PitchBook, a global venture capital investment tracking agency, the investment scale in biotech AI startups in 2024 totaled $8.9 billion, a 73% increase from the previous year. Particularly, late-stage investments of Series B and above accounted for 45% of the total, indicating that technologies in this field are gradually entering the commercialization stage. In Korea, through the government’s K-Bio Grand Challenge program, a total of 1.8 trillion won was invested in the biotech AI field in 2024, with private matching funds accounting for 1.1 trillion won.
Notable investment cases include the $350 million Series C investment secured by Generation Bio, an AI drug development startup based in Boston, USA, in the second half of 2024. This company specializes in gene therapy development using AI, with all three rare disease treatments under development having received FDA clinical approval. Domestically, the biotech AI startup Syntekabio attracted attention by securing a 50 billion won Series A investment in October 2024. The company’s AI-based antibody design platform can reduce the antibody development period from 18 months to six months, attracting interest from global pharmaceutical companies.
Positive changes are also emerging in the regulatory environment. In September 2024, the US FDA announced new guidelines for AI-based drug development, simplifying the approval process on the condition of transparency and verifiability of AI models. Consequently, the clinical trial approval period for AI-developed drugs is expected to be reduced from 8-12 months to 4-6 months. The Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety also plans to introduce a ‘Special Review Track for AI Drug Development’ in the first half of 2025, establishing an institutional foundation for AI-based drug development. In Europe, the EMA (European Medicines Agency) launched a scientific advisory program for AI drug development in November 2024, supporting companies to utilize AI technology without regulatory uncertainty.
Looking at market prospects, the global AI drug development market is expected to grow at an annual average rate of 38% to reach $74.2 billion by 2030. This implies that the share of AI technology in the overall drug development market will expand from the current 12% to 45% by 2030. Particularly, the utilization of AI technology is expected to be highest in the fields of cancer and rare disease treatments, with these two areas anticipated to account for over 60% of the total AI drug development market. In Korea, the government has set a goal to create a 15 trillion won market in the AI biotech field by 2030, alongside the Biohealth New Deal policy.
In conclusion, as of 2025, the biotech industry is undergoing a fundamental paradigm shift through integration with AI technology. As benefits such as shortened drug development periods, improved success rates, and cost reductions become a reality, competition between traditional biotech companies and new companies with AI capabilities is expected to intensify. Particularly for Korean companies, this is a golden opportunity to secure competitiveness in the global market with government policy support. Over the next five years, who gains technological and market superiority in the AI biotech field will likely reshape the global biotech industry’s landscape, and it is a time for investors to consider long-term portfolio adjustments.
