Syntekabio and CJ Healthcare have signed an agreement to co-develop a new immunotherapy using artificial intelligence (AI), Syntekabio said Wednesday.

Under the agreement, Syntekabio will be responsible for leading the initial part of the drug development process, including virtual discovery and lead compounds discovery, using AI technology, while CJ Healthcare will be responsible for clinical trials and commercialization.

Syntekabio will use its anticancer effect prediction model, which uses AI deep learning technology. The technology can apply 20 million drug candidates per day to 800 abstract cell lines to predict which treatment is most effective against cancer. The company also plans to combine genomic big data with in-silico technology, which can derive or optimize leading materials that are highly reactive to the target proteins.

The two companies expect to reduce the cost and shorten the development period by using AI technology as the stage of optimization of candidate substances in the development of new drug takes about 40 percent of the total development cost.

The global immunotherapy market, which reached 1.87 trillion won ($1.71 billion) in 2015, is expected to grow drastically to 40.9 trillion won by 2020, according to a research conducted by Evaluate Pharma, a global drug market survey company.

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