Korean biopharma giant Celltrion has teamed up with artificial intelligence drug design startup Galux to co-develop next-generation autoimmune disease therapies using multispecific antibodies, the companies said Tuesday.
Under the collaboration, Galux will handle AI-based antibody design and early-stage validation, while Celltrion will lead preclinical and clinical development and commercialization. The companies aim to establish a faster, more efficient model that shortens the path from candidate discovery to clinical trials and improves success rates.
Multispecific antibodies — which can modulate multiple immune targets with a single molecule — are emerging as a promising modality for complex autoimmune disorders. But traditional discovery still depends heavily on random screening, limiting the diversity of antibody candidates and making optimal target combinations difficult to test.
Galux says its AI-driven protein design platform, GaluxDesign, can engineer antibody–target interactions at the molecular level, enabling rapid creation of structurally stable, high-performance multispecific candidates. The company reports success rates exceeding 30 percent in de novo multitarget antibody design.
Celltrion, a global leader in antibody biologics and biosimilars, has been expanding external collaborations as it pushes deeper into advanced modalities such as multispecific antibodies and antibody-drug conjugates. Industry officials say the partnership could accelerate both firms’ pipelines for innovative antibody therapeutics.
“Our AI-driven protein design technology is redefining what is possible in drug discovery,” said Galux CEO Seok Cha-ok. “We can not only speed up workflows, but also precisely build novel therapeutic candidates with the structural and functional features required.”
“Developing complex modalities like multispecific antibodies demands new approaches that overcome existing scientific limitations,” said Lee Soo-young, vice president and head of Celltrion’s new drug research division. “We aim to lead the shifting paradigm in innovative drug R&D and strengthen Korea’s biopharma innovation ecosystem.”
andreahaneu@heraldcorp.com
