LG Chem is making artificial intelligence the main driver of its drug development. The company is extending AI from identifying drug candidates to selecting patients for clinical trials, aiming to raise the odds of trial success. It also plans to apply AI to a personalized messenger RNA (mRNA) cancer vaccine, with the goal of entering clinical trials in 2029.
LG Chem said on Oct. 21 that it had shared the strategy at the 2026 LG AI Bio Conference, held the day before at LG Science Park in Gangseo District, Seoul. It co-hosted the event with LG AI Research and Flagship Pioneering, a U.S. biotech venture capital firm. The conference, held for the first time this year, drew about 140 representatives of AI and biotech companies from South Korea and abroad.
In precision oncology, LG Chem outlined plans to expand AI-driven decision-making. It intends to analyze the complex biology of tumors to refine biomarker-based patient selection for clinical trials, and to use AI in shaping treatment strategies.
“AI is evolving from a tool for drug development into the core engine that determines competitiveness,” said Sohn Ji-woong, president of LG Chem's Life Sciences Company. “Competitiveness in future drug development will lie not only in finding structurally excellent drugs, but in using AI to identify the patients most likely to respond to treatment.”
The company also gave an update on its personalized mRNA cancer vaccine. LG Chem is building and refining AI models that precisely predict neoantigens, which are antigens that newly appear on a patient's cancer cells and serve as targets for triggering an immune response. The company plans to complete preclinical studies next year and move into clinical development in 2029.
Global companies also presented examples of AI in research and development. Insilico Medicine described how it took drug candidates discovered with generative AI into clinical stages. Lila Sciences presented the concept of an “autonomous lab,” in which AI agents repeat a cycle of design, synthesis, experimentation and learning.
