LG AI Research, D&D Pharmatech Partner to Advance AI-Driven Oral Peptide Drug Discovery

LG AI Research and D&D Pharmatech have announced a collaboration focused on accelerating the discovery and development of next-generation oral peptide therapeutics. The partnership combines LG AI Research's artificial intelligence-based drug discovery technologies with D&D Pharmatech's expertise in peptide development and oral delivery platforms.¹

Under the agreement, the companies will jointly pursue the development of oral peptide treatments for diseases with significant unmet medical need, using AI to design candidate molecules and optimize properties such as safety, efficacy, and oral bioavailability.¹

Peptide therapeutics have attracted increasing attention across the pharmaceutical industry because of their ability to selectively interact with biological targets while potentially offering improved safety profiles compared with some small molecule approaches. However, most peptide drugs have historically required injection because they are susceptible to degradation by digestive enzymes and often exhibit poor absorption when administered orally.²

Why has oral delivery remained a challenge for peptide therapeutics?

Peptides are short chains of amino acids that can modulate biological processes with high specificity. Their ability to target pathways that may be difficult for conventional small molecules or antibodies to address has made them an increasingly important therapeutic modality.²

Despite these advantages, oral delivery remains a significant hurdle. The gastrointestinal tract presents multiple barriers that can degrade peptide molecules before they reach systemic circulation. As a result, researchers have devoted substantial effort toward developing formulation technologies that protect peptides and improve absorption.²

D&D Pharmatech's ORALINK platform is designed to address these challenges by enabling oral administration of peptide therapeutics. According to the company, the platform has demonstrated favorable oral bioavailability in preclinical studies and has supported the advancement of oral peptide programs, including GLP-1 receptor agonist candidates, into clinical development through global partnerships.¹

How will the companies combine AI and peptide development expertise?

Under the collaboration, LG AI Research will develop models capable of identifying and designing peptide drug candidates by analyzing disease-associated biological structures and generating optimized peptide sequences.¹

D&D Pharmatech will be responsible for structural design refinement, synthesis, and experimental evaluation of AI-generated candidates. The company will also apply its oral delivery technologies to promising molecules and oversee preclinical and clinical development activities.¹

A central component of the collaboration is a planned feedback system in which experimental results generated by D&D Pharmatech will be incorporated into LG AI Research's models. The iterative process is intended to continuously improve predictive performance and candidate selection over time.¹

The approach reflects a broader industry trend toward integrating machine learning and laboratory validation to streamline drug discovery workflows and reduce the time required to identify viable development candidates.³

What role could AI play in the future of drug discovery?

The pharmaceutical industry has increasingly adopted AI tools to support target identification, molecular design, and candidate optimization. Researchers hope these technologies can improve development efficiency by narrowing the number of compounds that require laboratory testing and helping identify molecules with favorable characteristics earlier in development.³

LG AI Research has expanded its activities in this area through EXAONE Discovery, an AI platform designed to support drug and advanced materials development. The organization is also developing oncology-focused AI technologies intended to assist with cancer diagnosis and treatment decision-making.¹

Although the newly announced collaboration remains in the discovery stage, it highlights growing interest in combining AI-driven molecular design with specialized drug delivery technologies. If successful, the partnership could contribute to broader efforts to improve the development of oral peptide therapeutics and expand treatment options for patients with difficult-to-treat diseases.

References

1. LG AI Research. LG AI Research announces collaboration with D&D Pharmatech to accelerate next-generation oral peptide drug discovery. (2026, Jun 17). PR Newswire. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lg-ai-research-announces-collaboration-with-dd-pharmatech-to-accelerate-next-generation-oral-peptide-drug-discovery-302802738.html
2. Drucker DJ. (2020 Apr). Advances in oral peptide therapeutics. Nature Reviews Drug Discovery. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31848464/
3. Paul D, Sanap G, Shenoy S, et al. (2021 Jan). Artificial intelligence in drug discovery and development. Drug Discovery Today. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33099022/