The AI Revolution in the Biotech Industry: Market Restructuring from Drug Discovery to Personalized Medicine by 2025
Editor
Market Innovation and Competitive Landscape Changes in AI-Based Drug Discovery
As of 2025, the biotech industry is experiencing a fundamental paradigm shift with the introduction of artificial intelligence technology. While the traditional drug discovery process required an average development period of 10-15 years and a cost of $2.6 billion, AI-based platforms have demonstrated the ability to reduce this to 3-5 years and cut development costs by over 60%. The global AI-based drug discovery market is projected to grow from $8.7 billion in 2024 to $41.2 billion by 2030, with an average annual growth rate of 29.8%, significantly surpassing the overall biotech market growth rate of 12.3%. Notably, South Korea’s Celltrion (based in Incheon) and Samsung Biologics (based in Incheon) are strengthening their global presence through AI-based biosimilar development and expansion of CMO (Contract Manufacturing Organization) services.
Gilead Sciences, based in California, USA, announced an investment of $1.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2024 for its AI-based antiviral drug development program, aiming to reduce the development time for HIV and hepatitis treatments from the existing 8 years to 4 years. Meanwhile, Roche, based in Basel, Switzerland, is enhancing its tumor genome analysis AI platform through its subsidiary Foundation Medicine, analyzing data from over 400,000 cancer patients worldwide as of the third quarter of 2024. This large-scale data accumulation serves as a key competitive advantage in the development of personalized cancer therapies, with Roche’s oncology division revenue increasing by 18.7% year-on-year to $15.6 billion in the first half of 2024.
Novo Nordisk, based in Copenhagen, Denmark, is showing remarkable achievements in AI-based diabetes treatment development. The company discovered a next-generation compound of GLP-1 receptor agonists through its self-developed AI platform ‘NovoSeek’ in 2024, which demonstrated a 30% improvement in efficacy and a 40% reduction in side effects compared to the existing semaglutide (Ozempic) in Phase 1 clinical trials. Novo Nordisk’s third-quarter 2024 revenue increased by 25.3% year-on-year to $29 billion, with AI-based new drug development investments accounting for 17% of annual revenue, amounting to $4.9 billion. This significantly exceeds the traditional pharmaceutical companies’ R&D investment ratio of 12-15%, highlighting the company’s strategic focus on AI technology.
Domestically, Samsung Biologics is gaining attention by introducing an AI-based biopharmaceutical production optimization system. Since the second quarter of 2024, the company has been optimizing cell culture conditions in real-time through its self-developed ‘Samsung Bio Intelligence Platform,’ resulting in an average 23% improvement in biopharmaceutical production yield. Samsung Biologics’ first-half 2024 revenue increased by 31.2% year-on-year to 1.84 trillion won, with an operating profit margin of 35.7%, significantly exceeding the global CMO industry average of 28.4%. The company’s AI-based production optimization system has received high evaluations from global pharmaceutical companies like Moderna, enabling premium pricing in new contract orders for 2025.
Rapid Expansion and Technological Innovation in the Personalized Medicine Market
The field of personalized medicine is one of the fastest-growing areas in the biotech industry by 2025. The global personalized medicine market is expected to grow from $86.7 billion in 2024 to $231.5 billion by 2030, with an average annual growth rate of 17.8%, and the genome analysis segment accounting for 42% of the total market. Particularly, the cost of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology has fallen to around $500 per whole exome sequencing as of 2024, accelerating the popularization of personal genome analysis. Biogen, based in Massachusetts, USA, developed a personalized dosing protocol for its Alzheimer’s treatment Aducanumab in 2024, commercializing a system that adjusts the dosage according to each patient’s genetic variation.
Celltrion is showcasing a unique approach in the personalized medicine field among domestic biotech companies. Since the second half of 2024, the company has been operating its AI-based biosimilar development platform ‘Celltrion AIDD (AI Drug Discovery)’ to develop optimized biosimilars for different patient groups. The next-generation version of its rheumatoid arthritis treatment Remsima features an optimized antibody structure reflecting Korean genetic characteristics, showing a 15% improvement in efficacy and a 30% reduction in immunogenicity compared to the existing version in clinical trials. Celltrion’s third-quarter 2024 revenue increased by 28.5% year-on-year to 784.2 billion won, with personalized biosimilar-related revenue accounting for 23% of the total.
Amgen, based in California, USA, is demonstrating innovative achievements in the personalized medicine field. The company is developing bispecific T-cell engager (BiTE) therapies tailored to individual tumor characteristics based on its self-developed platform, currently conducting clinical trials for personalized treatments for 15 different cancer types. Amgen’s first-half 2024 oncology division revenue increased by 34.2% year-on-year to $8.9 billion, with personalized therapies accounting for 41% of the total. Notably, its lung cancer treatment ‘AMG 510’ is a representative case of personalized medicine, effective only in patients with KRAS G12C mutations, achieving cumulative sales of $2.3 billion by the third quarter of 2024.
In the field of gene therapy, advancements in CRISPR-Cas9 technology are opening new horizons for personalized medicine. The global gene therapy market is expected to grow from $19.2 billion in 2024 to $89.7 billion by 2030, with an average annual growth rate of 29.1%, and the share of personalized gene therapy expected to expand from 18% in 2024 to 35% by 2030. Particularly, the development of personalized gene therapies for rare diseases is becoming more active, with the US FDA granting Orphan Drug Designation to 27 personalized gene therapies in 2024, a 68% increase from the previous year, demonstrating the regulatory body’s active support for personalized medicine.
In the Asian market, Japan and South Korea are showing proactive efforts in adopting personalized medicine. The South Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare announced a ‘Five-Year Plan for Promoting Personalized Medicine’ in 2024, with an investment of 1.2 trillion won by 2029, 60% of which will be allocated to building AI-based genome analysis infrastructure. In Japan, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare introduced a fast-track review system for personalized therapies from April 2024, reducing the approval period from 24 months to 12 months. Supported by such policy measures, the Asia-Pacific personalized medicine market recorded a 22.7% year-on-year growth to $14.8 billion in 2024, significantly surpassing the North American market growth rate of 15.3%.
Investment Trends and Future Prospects in the Biotech Industry
By 2025, the investment environment in the biotech industry is being restructured around AI technology integration and personalized medicine. Global biotech venture capital investment recorded an 18.2% year-on-year increase to $23.4 billion in the first half of 2024, with AI-based drug discovery accounting for 31% of the total investment. Particularly, the average investment size at the Series A stage increased by 33% from $18 million in 2023 to $24 million in 2024, indicating investors’ high evaluation of the technological potential of biotech startups. In South Korea, biotech venture investment recorded a 45.3% year-on-year increase to 892 billion won in the first half of 2024, expanding its share of total venture investment to 12.7%.
Large pharmaceutical companies’ M&A activities with biotech firms are also becoming more active. The total global biotech M&A transaction volume for 2024 was $189 billion, a 28.5% increase from the previous year, with seven large M&A deals exceeding $5 billion, five of which involved companies with AI-based drug discovery platforms. Gilead Sciences acquired Forty Seven, a California-based AI-based immuno-oncology company, for $4.9 billion in October 2024, significantly strengthening its oncology pipeline, marking the second-largest acquisition in the company’s history. Roche also announced in December 2024 that it had increased its stake in Flatiron Health, a personalized medicine diagnostics company, to 78%.
Changes in the regulatory environment are also supporting the growth of the biotech industry. The US FDA finalized the ‘AI-Enabled Drug Development Guidance’ in 2024, providing clear guidelines for AI-based drug development, standardizing the approval process for AI-based new drugs. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) also expanded its scientific advisory services for AI-based medicines from the second half of 2024, currently providing an average of 15 AI-related consultations per month. With such active support from regulatory agencies, 32% of the new drugs approved by the FDA in 2024 underwent development processes utilizing AI technology, a significant increase from 19% in 2023.
The growth outlook for the biotech industry over the next five years is very positive. According to a recent report by McKinsey Consulting, the global biotech market is expected to grow from $1.2 trillion in 2024 to $2.4 trillion by 2030, with an average annual growth rate of 12.3%. Among these, the AI-based drug discovery field is projected to sustain high growth with an average annual growth rate of 29.8%, and the personalized medicine field with 17.8%. Regionally, the Asia-Pacific region is expected to show the highest growth rate at 15.7% annually, with particularly notable growth in China and South Korea. In South Korea, with the continued expansion of the K-Bio Belt initiative and the ecosystem centered around the Bio Big 3 (Samsung Biologics, Celltrion, SK Biopharm), it is projected to achieve over a 5% market share in the global biotech market by 2030. This growth trend indicates that the biotech industry is evolving into a next-generation healthcare platform that integrates AI, big data, and personalized medicine, offering new opportunities for investors and companies.
This analysis is based on publicly available market data and industry reports. It is recommended to conduct further due diligence and consult with experts before making investment decisions.
