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Artificial intelligence technology is revolutionizing the drug development process. This is because AI has advanced to the level where it can complete the discovery of new drug candidates, which used to take years, in just a few minutes. Complex experimental processes such as new drug candidate discovery, drug-target interaction prediction, and clinical trial success rate prediction are also being rapidly resolved. As the completeness of AI technology improves, drug development utilizing it is gaining momentum. According to data from the market research firm MarketsandMarkets, the AI drug development market is expected to grow from USD 1.86 billion (approximately KRW 2.582 trillion) in 2024 to USD 2.418 billion (approximately KRW 3.3567 trillion) in 2025.

Recently, with the addition of quantum computing technology, the potential of the drug development market is rapidly expanding. Quantum computing technology possesses outstanding processing capabilities, capable of resolving molecular simulations that would take hundreds of years on existing supercomputers in just a few minutes. When quantum computing and AI are combined, it is expected to significantly improve the success rate of drug development by precisely understanding molecular structures at the atomic level and accurately predicting the binding of drugs to proteins within the human body.



Founded in 2019, PharmCADD is a biotech company focused on drug development by integrating quantum computing and AI technologies. It has developed the Pharmulator, which precisely predicts and simulates the physical and chemical properties of compounds using theories of physics and quantum mechanics.

The Pharmulator helps in understanding the fundamental structure of how drug molecules interact with target proteins in the human body, enabling the rapid and accurate discovery of new drug candidates. It also possesses the 'AI Force Field' technology, which reduces quantum calculations for small molecule compounds from hours to less than a minute, and technology for predicting drug toxicity. How is PharmCADD challenging the innovation of drug development with quantum computing and AI? A conversation was held with Woo Sang-uk, CEO of PharmCADD.

Seeing the Future of Drug Development in ‘Quantum Computing and AI’

“During the COVID-19 pandemic, I heard that Moderna was attempting to use quantum computers for optimizing mRNA vaccine sequences. At the same time, I thought that quantum computers could solve complex optimization problems that were impossible with existing computers. I became convinced that completing a drug design platform using quantum computing and AI would change the paradigm of drug development. I established PharmCADD to demonstrate that these two technologies can dramatically increase the speed and success rate of drug development.”

In 2019, CEO Woo Sang-uk ventured into entrepreneurship by conceptualizing a drug development platform with a ‘hybrid’ computational structure combining quantum computing and AI. This was based on the judgment that combining AI, which has fast analytical capabilities but low accuracy, with quantum computing, which is strong in optimization, would create a synergistic effect. The strategy is to combine high-performance computing (HPC) with the highly potential quantum computing to gradually conquer solvable problems.

Woo Sang-uk, who is also a professor in the Department of Physics at Pukyong National University, has a unique background. After completing a bachelor's degree in biochemistry at Yonsei University, he abruptly shifted to theoretical physics for his master's degree. He later obtained a Ph.D. in physics from Iowa State University in the United States and was involved in molecular and quantum mechanics, and computational biophysics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It is a natural phenomenon that Woo Sang-uk, who has mastered various disciplines, has brought a new solution to the field of drug development.

The value pursued by PharmCADD is ‘technological innovation combining quantum computing and AI.’ It is not simply about improving the speed of drug development, but about enhancing the accuracy and reliability of silicon-based drug development (In-silico Drug Development) through the fusion of quantum computing and AI.

CEO Woo Sang-uk stated, “Traditional drug development requires an average of 15 years and astronomical costs. PharmCADD wants to fundamentally solve past problems through quantum computing and AI. To achieve this goal, all members of PharmCADD are dedicated to technology development based on flexible thinking.”

From Protein Structure Prediction to Drug Evaluation: The ‘Pharmulator’

PharmCADD has developed the ‘Pharmulator,’ a drug development Software as a Service (SaaS) platform combining quantum computing and AI. The Pharmulator can perform integrated tasks from protein structure prediction to drug-target interaction simulation and ADME/T (absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, toxicity) evaluation. By integrating quantum computing with AI analysis data, it focuses on solving complex drug development problems that are difficult to process with supercomputers. For example, it simultaneously calculates the quantum mechanical properties of numerous candidate compounds or efficiently handles the folding problems of disordered proteins. Disordered proteins are involved in bodily interactions by flexibly changing shape without a fixed structure, differing from regular proteins that fold into a three-dimensional structure. Research on disordered protein folding is related to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

The Pharmulator operates in five structures: ▲Protein Structure Analysis ▲Virtual Screening ▲Physics & Quantum Simulation for Refinement ▲ADME/T (absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, toxicity) ▲New Substance Generation. All are core systems necessary for the entire process of discovering new drug candidates.



When a user requests an analysis of a target protein causing a disease, the three-dimensional structure of the target protein is secured. If a known protein structure is not found, AI services like AlphaFold are used to predict the structure. Accurately identifying the ‘binding pocket’ where the drug will act is the first step.

The second step involves matching millions of compounds stored in PharmCADD’s server cluster with the target protein. Up to 12 million compounds can be screened per day, and potential candidates that may bind to the protein are initially filtered. CEO Woo Sang-uk likens this process to ‘finding a needle in a haystack’ at Gwangalli Beach. However, the search process has been significantly shortened using AI.

The initially filtered candidate substances are precisely calculated using physics and quantum simulations. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are performed by filling water molecules to resemble the actual human environment, allowing for much more precise predictions of the binding force between drugs and proteins. When analyzing the electron distribution of specific structures like benzene rings, quantum chemical calculations based on the Schrödinger equation, rather than Newtonian mechanics, are employed to maximize accuracy.

No matter how effective a drug is, it cannot be used if it is toxic. The Pharmulator predicts results such as liver toxicity, cardiac toxicity, and blood-brain barrier permeability using AI. The Pharmulator has enhanced its performance to predict toxicity in less than 30 seconds. Once the search and analysis are completed, the final candidate substance is proposed, accompanied by detailed data on toxicity, drug production difficulty, and more.

CEO Woo Sang-uk stated, “The general drug development process has extremely high computational complexity due to the vast molecular space it must handle. This leads to increased time and costs. The Pharmulator combines AI-based pattern recognition, molecular dynamics, and quantum computing algorithms to analyze proteins faster and more accurately to solve structural problems.”

CEO Woo Sang-uk compared ideal drug design to an ‘orchestra.’ It implies that harmonizing cutting-edge technologies like quantum computing and AI with classical mathematics like the Schrödinger equation can simultaneously innovate the speed and success rate of drug development.

Challenges of Talent Acquisition and Technology Validation

PharmCADD, which is accelerating its growth, also faces challenges. CEO Woo Sang-uk cited talent acquisition, qualitative expansion of data, and securing equipment infrastructure as concerns. The difficulty in acquiring talent is a regional issue. PharmCADD is located in Busan, the second most populous city in South Korea. However, most talents in the fields of quantum computing and AI are concentrated in the metropolitan area. It seems necessary for the government and local governments to secure incentives to attract talents to local cities like Busan, where they can fully utilize their capabilities.

The advancement of quantum computing and AI technology is also a challenge to be addressed. The completeness of AI models is proportional to the quality and quantity of data. CEO Woo Sang-uk stated, “From the perspective of pharmaceutical companies, securing a level of validation that can be trusted and proving the practical applicability of quantum computing are challenges.”

PharmCADD is building trust by presenting objective data and forward-looking validation results. It is accumulating objective validation data through various forms of joint research with pharmaceutical and biotech companies. The plan is to expand validation research with partner companies and focus capabilities on proving the effectiveness of the Pharmulator in actual drug development processes. Additionally, the company plans to speed up performance improvement by introducing the latest AI accelerators.

Building the Pharmulator Ecosystem with Many Pharmaceutical Companies

The value of a drug development platform is proven by actual results. PharmCADD differentiates itself by producing tangible results that actually work. The achievements are diverse. It has been selected for the Ministry of Science and ICT’s ‘Quantum Computing-Based Quantum Advantage Challenge Research Project,’ conducting quantum software technology development for innovative anticancer drug development.



PharmCADD has been selected for the global collaboration program operated by Seoul National University of Science and Technology and is collaborating with global quantum computing company IBM. By using IBM Quantum, it is accumulating know-how in building and operating the hybrid platform of the Pharmulator. Seoul National University of Science and Technology has supported PharmCADD’s capacity building by providing opportunities for industry-academia research, customized professional consulting for companies, and utilization of research resources. CEO Woo Sang-uk stated, “The collaboration program with Seoul National University of Science and Technology and IBM’s startup cooperation program has been a great help in strengthening research capabilities and expanding global partnerships.”

PharmCADD dreams of building a practical ‘hybrid platform’ that does not replace all data processing with quantum computers but combines the areas where high-performance computers and quantum computers excel to secure speed and accuracy. Based on this, the company plans to develop new drugs with various pharmaceutical companies and help numerous patients.

IT Dong-A Reporter Kang Hyung-seok (redbk@itdonga.com)

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