KAIST

A new initiative is officially underway to build a next-generation medical innovation platform. By combining Artificial Intelligence (AI) and advanced biotechnology, this project aims to overcome the "Death Valley" of the pre-clinical stage—a long-standing hurdle in drug discovery—and accurately predict human responses to replace animal testing.

KAIST announced on June 17 that it held the opening ceremony for the "KAIST-FORMOSA BIO R&D CENTER" at the KAIST Meta-Convergence Building on June 16, jointly with the world-renowned Taiwanese company Formosa Group, and has officially commenced research operations.

This research center is a follow-up project to the KAIST-Formosa Biomedical Cooperation Agreement signed last year and will operate centered around the "The FORM-K" project. Formosa Group will provide approximately 17 billion KRW in research funding over the next five years. Based on this financial backing, both institutions will develop and commercialize an organoid-based, next-generation animal alternative testing platform known as NAMs (New Approach Methodologies) on a global scale. NAMs are drawing significant attention as next-generation drug discovery evaluation technologies that utilize human cells, tissues, and artificial intelligence to replace animal experiments.

The opening ceremony was attended by Formosa Group Chairman Ruey-Yu Wang, key executives, and faculty members from Chang Gung University and Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, who celebrated the launch of the research center and discussed plans to expand future cooperation. Under the shared goal of improving human health, both institutions further solidified their cooperative framework in the advanced biomedical field.

The core objective of the research center is to bridge the "Death Valley" gap that occurs during the drug development process. Currently, even if drug candidates show excellent results in animal testing, about 90% of them fail during actual human clinical trials. This limitation stems from the biological differences between humans and animals.

The research center plans to address this issue using "organoids," which are 3D human organ models derived from patient cells. In particular, the center will actively develop NAMs, which regulatory bodies like the US FDA and European agencies are pushing to adopt, to build a drug discovery platform that predicts human biological responses more accurately. This approach is expected to drastically reduce the time and cost required to develop new drugs for rare and incurable diseases.

The greatest strength of this collaboration lies in the integration of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital’s vast patient tissue and clinical data—Taiwan's largest medical institution—with KAIST's world-class organoid, AI, and optical technologies.

Boasting a medical infrastructure of 12,000 beds, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital possesses a massive repository of accumulated patient data. The research center will leverage this data to build disease-specific organoid models and utilize AI-based analysis to identify disease mechanisms and discover new drug candidates.

Furthermore, by establishing a next-generation bio-R&D platform that utilizes organoids and AI, the KAIST-FORMOSA BIO R&D CENTER aims to enhance the efficiency of drug discovery, commercialize relevant technologies, and enter the global market. This initiative is expected to strengthen the bio-cooperation ecosystem and contribute to creating new industries and jobs.

Professor Dae-Soo Kim from the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at KAIST stated:

"The KAIST-FORMOSA BIO R&D CENTER is a new model of international collaborative research where world-class clinical data meets cutting-edge biotechnology. We will develop it into a global research hub that reduces reliance on animal testing and accelerates patient-tailored precision medicine and drug discovery."

Formosa Group Chairman Ruey-Yu Wang, remarked:

"I find it highly meaningful to visit KAIST in person to join the opening of the KAIST-FORMOSA BIO R&D CENTER. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to President Kwang Hyung Lee, the KAIST research team, and all members for showing exceptional interest and leadership in laying the foundation for this cooperation and establishing the center. I hope this research center will establish itself as a symbolic collaborative platform leading future bio-innovation together."

She further added, "Formosa Group will actively support the research outcomes so that they can translate into actual patient treatment and industrial innovation, and we will lead global biomedical innovation hand-in-hand with KAIST."

Kwang Hyung Lee, President of KAIST, said:

"The opening of this research center is a prime example showing the global expansion of KAIST's biotechnology. I extend my deepest gratitude to Chair Sandy Wang and the officials from Formosa Group for taking the time out of their busy schedules to visit KAIST and celebrate this opening. Through this collaboration, we expect that the integration of KAIST's advanced biotechnology with the rich clinical capabilities of Formosa Group and Chang Gung Memorial Hospital will serve as a catalyst for creating new growth engines in the future bio-industry."

< (Left) KAIST President Kwang Hyung Lee, (Right)Formosa Group Chairman Ruey-Yu Wang >

Meanwhile, Formosa Group is a global enterprise operating businesses across diverse industrial sectors, including petrochemicals, biotechnology, semiconductor materials, and energy. Chang Gung Memorial Hospital is one of the largest medical institutions in Taiwan, leading global bio-research backed by rich clinical data and research infrastructure.