The traditional "double 10 rule" once defined new drug development: over 10 years of research, more than $1 billion in investment, and a success rate below 10 percent. Today, artificial intelligence is reshaping the entire pharmaceutical value chain, with Pudong's biotech ecosystem helping to compress development cycles and address long-standing industrial bottlenecks through technological transformation.

Dr. Ma Jian, co-founder and CEO of XtalPi Holdings Limited, said AI-driven drug research has entered an industrial phase, evolving from isolated tools into full-chain infrastructure with scalable engineering capabilities. Systematic AI research, he noted, is turning scientific uncertainty into more stable, reproducible engineering outcomes, enabling broader industrial application.

XtalPi's intelligent equipment. [Photo/WeChat ID: pdnews]

In practice, local companies are deploying high-speed AI robotic laboratories and autonomous discovery platforms. XtalPi has developed a closed-loop autonomous discovery system and launched universal physical intelligence research in 2025. It also signed a cooperation agreement worth over $400 million with an international pharmaceutical company to develop oral G protein-coupled receptor, or GPCR, targeted therapies with best-in-class potential.

Global pharmaceutical heavyweights are rapidly expanding AI adoption, while US regulators increasingly recognize AI as a core development tool. Pudong has emerged as a leading hub, with Zhangjiang Science City hosting one of the country's most complete AI-driven pharmaceutical ecosystems and a growing pipeline of breakthrough candidates.

Insilico Medicine has advanced multiple milestones, with its rentosertib inhalation formulation receiving Investigational New Drug (IND) approval and becoming its 13th AI-discovered candidate to enter clinical trials. In the first quarter of 2026, the company secured three business development deals totaling $150 million in upfront payments, while software revenue rose 23.8 percent year-on-year.

XtalPi reported its first full-year profit in 2025, generating 802.6 million yuan ($118.78 million) in revenue, a 201.2 percent year-on-year increase. It now collaborates with 17 of the world's top 20 drugmakers, with six internally discovered drug candidates showing positive clinical results in 2026.

Other local players are also making steady progress. Deepwise Therapeutics' GLP-1 candidate moved from development to IND approval in just 19 months and has entered Phase III trials, showing up to 10.3 percent weight loss in 24 weeks. Henlius is integrating AI agents and specialized databases to streamline precision drug development.

With strong capital inflows, advancing clinical pipelines and sustained policy support, Pudong's AI pharmaceutical sector is entering a phase of higher-quality growth, marked by increasingly mature technical deployment and the scaling of commercial applications.