LG CNS joins government AI drug development program

LG CNS and Chong Kun Dang executives pose for a photo to celebrate the the completion of an AI-based product quality review automation system. (LG CNS)

LG CNS said Wednesday that it is expanding its AI transformation, or AX, business into the public and pharmaceutical sectors, securing key contracts with both government and private-sector projects.

The IT services arm of LG Group has participated as a service provider in the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s K-AI drug development program, which focuses on building AI models for preclinical and clinical research. The government-backed project will run for four years and three months with funding of approximately 37.1 billion won ($25 million).

Under the program, LG CNS will lead the development of an artificial intelligence-based platform to support clinical trial design and operations in drug development. The platform will integrate multiple AI models developed by participating institutions and apply federated learning technology, allowing joint model training while keeping sensitive medical data securely protected.

LG CNS said its AI capabilities could help address long-standing challenges in drug development, where limited data sharing and fragmented systems have often extended development timelines to more than a decade.

In the private sector, LG CNS has completed a project with Korean pharmaceutical company Chong Kun Dang to automate the preparation of annual quality evaluation reports using agentic AI technology.

Using its in-house enterprise agentic AI platform, Agentic Works, the system deploys around 30 AI agents to collect, analyze and verify data from the client’s quality management and laboratory information systems, before autonomously generating the final reports.

“LG CNS’s AX capabilities in the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors are being validated through concrete outcomes in both government and private projects,” said Kim Tae-hoon, executive vice president and head of the AI Cloud business at LG CNS. “We will continue to apply AI technologies to improve efficiency and competitiveness across the industry.”