AI drug development company Syntekabio (CEO Jongseon Jeong) announced on the 27th that it achieved KRW 1.2 billion in revenue during the first half of this year, establishing itself as a leading company in Korea’s AI drug development sector that has realized commercial success.
While multiple AI drug development platform companies exist domestically, most are in early commercialization stages with little or no revenue. This is due to the industry’s inherently long investment cycles. Syntekabio, however, has successfully demonstrated the commercial viability of its technology through actual sales.
The recent revenue was generated through various collaborations: identifying anti‑cancer candidates with a major Korean pharmaceutical company and biopharma R&D firm Rudacure; entering into first and second stage compound discovery contracts with a U.S. Nasdaq‑listed company specializing in Target Protein Degradation (TPD); and co‑developing veterinary therapeutics with the world’s largest animal health company. Domestic revenue accounted for about KRW 600 million, while U.S. contracts brought in about KRW 500 million.
Syntekabio is also actively expanding its pipeline through global partnerships. It has signed a deal worth approximately KRW 4.5 billion with U.S.‑based Pragma Bio to discover targets related to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and conduct preclinical research.
In addition, the company is jointly developing oncology therapeutics with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), one of the top five U.S. cancer centers, based on its proprietary targets. With OCMS Bio, a U.S. email discovery & engineering firm, it is conducting antibody optimization and efficacy validation for undisclosed targets. The two firms also co‑launched an AI‑based one‑shot antibody screening platform, further expanding Syntekabio’s global research network.
Through these various contracts and research partnerships, Syntekabio has steadily demonstrated both its AI platform’s technical strength and its business viability.
In the first half of this year, the company officially launched LM‑VS (Language Model Virtual Screening), its SaaS‑based AI drug discovery service in global markets, marking the start of its revenue stream. In the second half, an upgraded PaaS (Platform as a Service) version—with enhanced cloud accessibility and scalability—is due to be introduced. Having begun its revenue growth via SaaS, Syntekabio plans to further broaden its business scope in the latter half by offering PaaS services to Korean pharmaceutical firms and strengthening its growth foundation.
Beyond synthetic small‑molecule drug platforms, Syntekabio also operates next‑generation platforms including Ab‑ARS for antibody optimization and Neo‑ARS for cancer vaccine discovery. Ab‑ARS is an AI platform that optimizes antigen‑antibody binding regions (CDRs), expected to drive revenue growth from the second half of the year amid global demand. Neo‑ARS, a neoantigen‑based personalized cancer vaccine discovery platform, has already yielded positive results in joint development studies, and meaningful revenue is anticipated starting next year.
Meanwhile, recent government AI promotion policies also align well with Syntekabio’s growth trajectory. The new administration has announced a five‑year AI industry plan that includes KRW 25 trillion in public‑private investment by 2027, talent development, an annual KRW 1 trillion fund for AI startups, and expansion of AI convergence clusters. As part of Korea’s strategy to become a global AI powerhouse, the policies emphasize AI healthcare, autonomous systems, and industrial AI commercialization—strengthening regulatory and institutional support for AI drug discovery companies like Syntekabio.
A Syntekabio spokesperson said, “We are already a proven company in AI drug development, having delivered real revenue. Through building references and expanding our next‑generation platforms, we will further strengthen our competitiveness not only in Korea, but globally.”
