Hanyang University ERICA Cultivates Convergent Talent by 'Verifying Drug Safety with AI Instead of Animal Testing'

[Financial News] Hanyang University ERICA Department of Pharmacy is embarking on a full-scale effort to cultivate professional talent capable of evaluating and managing the safety of pharmaceuticals and healthcare products by incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
Hanyang University ERICA announced on the 9th that the Department of Pharmacy's 'AI+PRISM Education and Research Group' has been selected for the Ministry of Education's Level 4 Brain Korea 21 (BK21) 'AI+X Convergence Pilot Project.' The goal of this project is to cultivate convergent talent capable of solving social problems by integrating AI technology into pharmacy and the safety management of healthcare products in daily life.
Recently, the global pharmaceutical and biotech market has been undergoing a major transformation in safety verification methods. Major regulatory agencies, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), are gradually reducing their reliance on traditional animal testing and adopting advanced technologies (New Approach Methodologies (NAMs)) that use artificial intelligence to predict drug risks based on vast amounts of data. Rather than administering drugs to animals and waiting for results as in the past, this approach utilizes AI to analyze accumulated data and precisely screen for efficacy and side effects in advance.
Bae Ok-nam, Head of the AI+PRISM Education and Research Group at Hanyang University ERICA, emphasized, "Global regulatory agencies, including the U.S. FDA, are rapidly expanding decision-making using AI and advanced data instead of animal testing," adding, "In line with these changes, we will cultivate talent that can solve real-world problems and lead the future competitiveness of the domestic pharmaceutical and bio industries."
The research group operates a curriculum that organically weaves together various disciplines rather than remaining confined to a single field. Twenty-seven professors from diverse fields, including pharmacy as well as mathematical data science, computer science, IT convergence, and advertising and public relations, have joined forces. Students will not only learn safety assessment technologies that utilize AI to replace animal testing, but also learn how to apply safety verification results to the approval procedures of government regulatory agencies.
A notable feature is the collaborative participation of advertising and public relations experts to enhance "risk communication" capabilities. By fostering the ability to convey product risks and safety information to consumers in an easy-to-understand and accurate manner, the program helps the public confidently understand the results of scientific verification.
"We plan to strengthen project-based education that solves real-world problems in the industrial and regulatory fields," said an official from the research group. "We will contribute to enhancing the export competitiveness of the domestic pharmaceutical and bio industries by aligning with global regulatory standards while establishing a safety net that allows the public to use medicines and healthcare products with confidence."

[email protected] Kim Man-gi Reporter