A New Phase in the Biotechnology Revolution: AI-Driven Drug Development and Precision Medicine Reshape the Market by 2025
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Market Innovation in AI-Driven Drug Development
In 2025, the biotechnology industry is undergoing fundamental changes with the full-scale adoption of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies. The global biopharmaceutical market is expected to grow from $720 billion in 2024 to $765 billion in 2025, a 6.3% increase, with the AI-driven drug development sector experiencing rapid growth at an annual rate of 25.8%. In particular, the use of deep learning algorithms for molecular design and drug screening is revolutionizing traditional drug development processes, reducing the development period from an average of 12-15 years to 8-10 years. This transformation goes beyond mere technological advancement, fundamentally reshaping the business models and competitive landscape of the pharmaceutical industry.
AI drug development companies like Recursion Pharmaceuticals in California, USA, and Exscientia in London, UK, have attracted a total of $1.8 billion in investments in the first half of 2025 alone, drawing significant attention from the industry. These companies are discovering drug candidates at 70-80% lower costs compared to traditional pharmaceutical companies, with success rates significantly improved from 8-12% to 20-25%. In Korea, Samsung Biologics (Incheon, Gyeonggi Province) announced a 350 billion won investment in an AI-based antibody development platform in October 2025, strengthening its competitiveness in the Asian market. Celltrion (Incheon) has also achieved a 40% reduction in development costs by adopting a machine learning-based biosimilar development process.
The core of AI-driven drug development lies in pattern analysis and predictive modeling of large-scale biological data. Key technologies currently utilized in the industry include molecular dynamics simulations, protein structure prediction, and drug-target interaction prediction, with accuracy improved by 15-20% compared to 2024. The commercialization of protein structure prediction models like Google’s DeepMind’s AlphaFold3 has significantly increased their utilization in the early research and development stages by pharmaceutical companies. Consequently, the traditional experiment-centered R&D approach is shifting towards computational biology, significantly changing the roles and required skills of R&D personnel.
Market analysis predicts that the global market size for AI drug development will expand from $8.7 billion in 2025 to $41 billion by 2030. The Asia-Pacific region is expected to account for 35% of this market share, with Korea, China, and Japan identified as key growth drivers. In Korea, the government plans to invest a total of 15 trillion won in the biohealth sector from 2025 to 2030, in conjunction with the K-Bio Belt project, with 30% of this investment focused on AI-based technology development. With such policy support and private investment expansion, Korea is expected to play a significant role in the global AI drug development market.
Commercialization of Precision Medicine and Personalized Treatment
Another key trend in the biotechnology industry in 2025 is the full-scale commercialization of precision medicine. The precision medicine market, which provides optimal treatment by comprehensively analyzing an individual’s genomic information, lifestyle, and environmental factors, has grown to $189 billion in 2025, a 13.2% increase from the previous year. The genomic analysis market accounts for 45%, personalized drug market for 35%, and digital healthcare platforms for 20% of this growth. The cost of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology has fallen below $500 for personal genomic analysis, making it accessible to general consumers.
In September 2025, Gilead Sciences (Foster City, California) commercialized personalized treatment protocols in the CAR-T cell therapy field, improving treatment success rates from 65% to 82%. Additionally, Roche, based in Basel, Switzerland, introduced a personalized cancer drug prescription system based on tumor genomic analysis, achieving a 40% improvement in patient treatment response rates. Novo Nordisk in Denmark began offering a service in the second half of 2025 that provides optimal dosing protocols by analyzing individual insulin response patterns in diabetes patients using AI.
In the Korean market, the Precision Medicine Consortium led by Samsung Medical Center and Seoul National University Hospital announced the completion of a Korean-specific genomic database in November 2025. This database includes genomic information from approximately 500,000 Koreans, enabling the analysis of disease susceptibility and drug response patterns specific to Koreans compared to Westerners. Significant progress has been made in developing precision medicine treatments for common Korean cancers such as stomach, liver, and certain types of breast cancer. The government invested 280 billion won in this project in 2025 and plans to make precision medicine services available to the general public through national health insurance coverage starting in 2026.
The liquid biopsy market, a key technology in precision medicine, is also experiencing rapid growth. This technology, which detects circulating tumor DNA in bodily fluids such as blood or saliva for early cancer diagnosis and treatment monitoring, formed a global market of $6.7 billion in 2025. Companies like Guardant Health and Foundation Medicine in the US are leading the market, with Korean companies like Genomictree targeting the Asian market. Liquid biopsy offers the advantage of significantly reducing patient burden compared to traditional tissue biopsies while enabling real-time monitoring, with accuracy reaching 85-90% in early-stage cancer detection.
Investment trends in the precision medicine field show that global venture capital and pharmaceutical companies invested a total of $12.4 billion in the first half of 2025, a 28% increase from the same period the previous year. Of this investment, 42% was focused on genomic analysis technology, 31% on personalized drug development, and 27% on digital healthcare platforms. Investment is rapidly increasing in the Asian region, with companies like BGI Genomics in China and Takeda Pharmaceutical in Japan expanding their investments in large-scale precision medicine projects. In Korea, Samsung Biologics and Celltrion have announced medium- to long-term investment plans of 1 trillion won and 700 billion won, respectively, contributing to market expansion.
However, several challenges exist in the commercialization of precision medicine. The most significant issue is data privacy and security. Genomic information is sensitive data that can fully identify individuals, posing risks of hacking or misuse. Several genomic data breaches in the US and Europe in the first half of 2025 have led to increased regulatory scrutiny, requiring companies to invest in more stringent security systems. Additionally, the high cost of precision medicine treatments limits accessibility. Currently, the cost of a single personalized CAR-T cell therapy treatment ranges from $500,000 to $800,000, with limited insurance coverage, placing a significant financial burden on patients.
Looking to the future of the biotechnology industry, the convergence of AI and precision medicine is expected to accelerate further. By 2030, the global biopharmaceutical market is projected to grow to $1.2 trillion, with more than half of the products and services utilizing AI-based or precision medicine technologies. Korea is expected to play a crucial role in the global biotech market, supported by strong government backing and excellent IT infrastructure, with a high likelihood of serving as a hub in the Asian market. For investors, innovative biotech companies with AI and precision medicine technologies are analyzed to offer higher growth potential than traditional pharmaceutical companies. However, careful portfolio construction considering technological risks and regulatory uncertainties is deemed necessary.
*This article is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice or recommendations. Investment decisions should be made at the individual’s discretion and responsibility.*
