The End of the Needle? LG and D&D Pharmatech Bet on AI to Revolutionize Drug Delivery

SEOUL, South Korea – June 17, 2026 – In a move that signals a major offensive in the war against chronic and incurable diseases, LG AI Research today announced a landmark collaboration with clinical-stage biopharmaceutical firm D&D Pharmatech. The goal is ambitious: to shatter a long-standing barrier in medicine by developing oral, tablet-based peptide drugs, a feat made possible by the convergence of advanced artificial intelligence and specialized biotechnology.

The partnership, formalized at a signing ceremony at the LG Twin Towers in Seoul, brings together a technology giant’s AI powerhouse with a biotech innovator’s proven drug development expertise. Key executives from both sides, including Woohyung Lim, Head of LG AI Research, and Seulki Lee, CEO of D&D Pharmatech, were present to launch what they describe as a quest to create next-generation treatments for precision medicine.

"This collaboration goes beyond the simple adoption of technology; it represents a journey toward creating a bio-specialized AI that addresses complex challenges in drug discovery," said Woohyung Lim. His counterpart, Seulki Lee, added, "By combining LG AI Research's cutting-edge technologies and data-driven learning expertise with D&D Pharmatech's extensive experience in peptide development, we will radically enhance the efficiency of drug discovery."

The Billion-Dollar Pill Problem

At the heart of this collaboration lies one of modern pharmacology's most vexing challenges: the peptide. These short chains of amino acids are nature’s precision tools, regulating bodily functions with high specificity and a remarkable safety profile. They can target disease-causing agents inside cells, areas often inaccessible to larger antibody drugs. The problem? The human digestive system is brutally efficient at destroying them.

For decades, this vulnerability to gastrointestinal enzymes has relegated most peptide therapeutics to injections. While effective, this reliance on needles creates significant burdens for patients, especially those with chronic conditions requiring frequent dosing, often leading to lower compliance and quality of life.

Cracking the code for oral peptide delivery is considered a holy grail in the pharmaceutical industry. The market reflects this unmet need. While the current market for oral peptides is valued at over $9 billion, it is projected to skyrocket to more than $47 billion by 2035. This explosive growth potential underscores the transformative impact a successful oral platform could have, turning inconvenient injections into simple daily pills for a host of metabolic, fibrotic, and neurodegenerative diseases.

AI as the Co-Scientist

LG AI Research plans to attack this problem with a formidable digital weapon: EXAONE Discovery. This is not just another algorithm; it's a generative AI platform LG describes as an "AI Co-Scientist." Patented in early 2026, the system is designed to manage the entire research workflow, from analyzing vast quantities of unstructured scientific literature and data to generating novel hypotheses and designing viable molecular candidates.

Rather than the slow, iterative process of traditional lab work, LG's AI will analyze the structures of disease-causing proteins and then design and validate optimal peptide sequences at an unprecedented scale. This digital-first approach allows researchers to explore a vast chemical space that would be impossible to screen using conventional methods, dramatically accelerating the discovery phase.

This initiative is a cornerstone of LG's broader 'Biology AI' strategy, a portfolio that also includes the ambitious "Cancer Agentic AI." Developed with the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, that platform aims to shrink the timeline from cancer diagnosis to personalized treatment planning from weeks to a single day. The common thread is LG's strategic pivot, under Chairman Kwang Mo Koo, to position AI and biotechnology as core drivers of future growth, moving the conglomerate into the high-stakes world of healthcare innovation.

From Lab Bench to Clinical Reality

An AI that can design a perfect drug on paper is only half the equation. The molecule must survive the journey through the body and prove its worth in human trials. This is where D&D Pharmatech’s role becomes critical.

The biotech firm will take the digital blueprints from LG's AI and bring them to life. Their teams will handle the structural design, synthesis, and initial evaluation of the peptide candidates. More importantly, they bring their proprietary ORALINK platform to the table—a suite of advanced formulation technologies designed to protect peptides from degradation and enhance their absorption into the bloodstream.

This isn't just theoretical expertise. D&D Pharmatech recently delivered a major clinical victory that lends significant credibility to the partnership. In May 2026, the company announced positive 48-week results from a Phase 2 trial of its drug DD01 (Zabopegdutide) for Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatohepatitis (MASH), a severe liver disease. The study was a resounding success, with 50% of patients on the drug achieving at least a one-stage improvement in liver fibrosis, compared to just 15.8% on placebo. Furthermore, 62.5% saw their MASH resolve without worsening fibrosis, a stunning result against the 5.3% seen in the placebo group.

This proven ability to navigate the complex, high-risk path of clinical development makes D&D Pharmatech an ideal partner to translate LG's AI-driven discoveries into tangible therapies. The two companies plan to establish a continuous feedback loop: LG's AI will generate candidates, D&D will provide real-world validation data, and that data will be fed back into the system to make the AI smarter and its predictions more accurate over time.

As CEO Seulki Lee noted, the goal is to "validate our technical leadership in the global market within highly sought-after fields such as oral peptides." This collaboration isn't just a research project; it's a strategic push to compete with global pharmaceutical giants like Novo Nordisk, whose oral peptide drug Rybelsus® demonstrated the massive commercial potential, and a new wave of AI-native biotechs like Peptilogics and PeptiOrigin. By uniting cutting-edge AI with proven clinical execution, LG and D&D are making a bold claim for South Korea's place at the forefront of the next pharmaceutical revolution.