Mingdu Science Platform Launches AI-Powered Digital Solutions to Enhance Efficiency and Compliance in Drug R&D

Bill Gates has stated that the advent of ChatGPT is comparable to the invention of the internet and will change the world.

ChatGPT represents a direction of technological advancement, signifying that artificial intelligence in the field of natural language processing has shifted from entertainment-oriented conversations via smart speakers to solving practical problems at a higher level of intelligence. In fact, beyond natural language processing, AI has gradually evolved from merely perceiving the objective world through data to being capable of creating worlds.

In the traditional life sciences sector, leveraging data and AI tools to transform high-cost, low-efficiency segments—such as R&D, manufacturing, distribution, and marketing—will be an imperative path for enterprises and the source of their future core competitiveness.

So, how can digital technologies be applied to empower intelligent pharmaceutical manufacturing, reshape the trust system through more compliant, safe, and reliable R&D and production, and promote the sustainable and healthy development of the industry? AI-powered platforms similar to ChatGPT can participate more extensively in new drug development, providing better solutions for pharmaceutical R&D.

As a digital transformation service provider in the life sciences sector, Mingdu Zhiyun has been deeply engaged in addressing the challenges and charting the development path for enterprises undergoing digital transformation. On March 17, 2023, Mingdu Zhiyun officially releasedMingdu Science Platform (MSP) aims to build infrastructure for drug R&D, improve drug R&D efficiency, and lower the barriers to drug R&D.

At the press conference, Ge Yafei, Chairman of Mingdu Intelligent Cloud, delivered a speech.

Currently, traditional pharmaceutical companies still rely on manual recording and operations, with data remaining fragmented across multiple management departments and lacking timely interconnectivity. The entire quality control process continues to depend on manual standards, falling short of achieving high quality and efficiency as well as fully meeting regulatory requirements.

At the press conference, Wei Wei, Product Director at Mingdu Zhiyun, stated that against the backdrop of a dwindling number of drug targets and increasingly compressed R&D timelines across the pharmaceutical industry, speed to market, efficiency, and regulatory compliance have become the most critical factors from a commercialization perspective. In terms of drug development, companies primarily face pain points and challenges such as opaque collaboration processes, overlooked data integrity, difficult-to-reuse data silos, and difficulties in ensuring regulatory compliance. Modularization, integration, ecosystem-building, and artificial intelligence are likely to represent future trends in pharmaceutical R&D.

Wei Wei Introduces the Core Features of MSP On-Site

Against this backdrop, Mingdu Intelligent Cloud has dedicated itself to building the Mingdu Science Platform,As a unified life sciences platform, it innovatively connects pharmaceutical companies with CXO enterprises, addressing challenges across the entire drug R&D lifecycle through a rich suite of applications and efficient data integration.

According to Wei Wei, the platform features four core characteristics.First is“One” Integrated Platform: Unified Technical Foundation.The platform leverages a unified technical foundation to provide modular, reusable middleware, supporting iterative upgrades and meeting the demands of diverse scenarios and complex business operations.

Second, the “1” data source: Ensure the data closed-loop is authentic and credible.The platform enables data acquisition across various scenarios and from multiple types of medical devices, aggregates data from diverse business lines and systems, and delivers high-value analytical insights to customers.

Third, “N” diverse apps: covering all roles in drug R&D.Leveraging MSP’s extensive suite of applications, we precisely address customer pain points and deliver business solutions tailored to their actual needs.

Fourth, “N” diverse application scenarios: used in R&D fields such as chemical drugs and biologics.The platform supports various scenarios, including R&D, testing, and analysis, for pharmaceutical, biotech, and CXO clients, enhancing digital R&D management capabilities and improving operational efficiency.

Leveraging the “1+1+N+N” framework, the platform delivers comprehensive digital capabilities across all scenarios, ensuring data integrity and controllability, enabling efficient and collaborative management, eliminating data silos, while helping pharmaceutical companies enhance R&D efficiency and ensure compliance throughout the R&D process.

According to Wang Fei, Vice President of Mingdu Intelligent Cloud, the pace of technological advancement is accelerating rapidly—from small-molecule chemical drugs to large-molecule biologics, and further to cell and gene therapies—making it increasingly difficult to manage the entire R&D process using traditional models.

Based on this, the Mingdu Science Platform provides pharmaceutical companies with a variety of flexible solutions tailored to different specialized sectors, in accordance with regulatory compliance requirements and practical needs. These solutions cover a wide range of scenarios across small molecules, large molecules, cell therapy, gene therapy, nucleic acids, and other specialized areas within the pharmaceutical industry. Additionally, dedicated mobile applications are provided for different roles, including project managers, laboratory technicians, materials management personnel, and quality control staff.

These applications can be freely combined, or pre-configured into compliant scenarios to provide enterprises with out-of-the-box business systems.These include Electronic Laboratory Notebooks (ELN), R&D Project Management Systems, Compound Management Systems, Inventory Management Systems, Equipment and Instrument Management Systems, Sample Management Systems, Label Management Systems, Decision Analysis Support Systems, and Sequence Management, with plans to expand to additional applications in the future.

For small-molecule CXO companies, characterized by streamlined business processes and a strong emphasis on cost control, the Mingdu Scientific Platform has designed targeted application suites. First, it integrates the operational chain to enable efficient collaboration among business development, R&D, and finance functions. Second, it implements refined cost management covering labor hours and high-value materials, thereby addressing cost concerns that are critical for CXOs. Third, it provides end-to-end process management for synthesis, analysis, and formulation. Fourth, it collects both structured and unstructured data to deliver R&D insights.

For monoclonal antibody companies, addressing the challenge of prolonged antibody drug development cycles, an integrated suite of platform applications—including electronic lab notebooks (ELN), materials management, and instrument connectivity—not only assists Process Development (PD) teams in scaling up manufacturing processes and automates data acquisition from instruments, but also bridges sample workflows between process and quality control teams, while providing capabilities for data aggregation, analysis, and visualization.

To date, Mingdu Zhiyun has provided services for the construction of smart R&D projects for numerous pharmaceutical companies, including Transcenta Holding, Shanghai Pharmaceuticals, The United Laboratories, Pharmaron, and Hongyun Huaning.

Mingdu Intelligent Cloud and Hetai Jianyu Complete Strategic Cooperation Signing

At the event, Mingdu Zhiyun signed strategic cooperation agreements with Shuanglin Bio and Hetai Jianyu. Meanwhile, Mingdu Zhiyun also established a strategic partnership with Zhimi Technology, with both parties committing to deeply integrate digital solutions in the life sciences sector and jointly explore business opportunities in more specialized niches.

Mingdu Intelligent Cloud and Shuanglin Biology Complete Strategic Cooperation Signing

As more partners adopt the Mingdu Science platform, future enterprise demands for datafication and AI in production, quality control, and other areas can be integrated into the platform. This will accelerate the continuous accumulation of platform data and the ongoing expansion of application scenarios, empowering enterprises to enhance R&D efficiency and ensure compliance, thereby driving the pharmaceutical industry toward a digital and intelligent ecosystem.

Wang Fei stated that the R&D philosophy of the Mingdu Scientific Platform is derived 50% from market research and an understanding of users’ underlying needs, and the other 50% from the actual R&D processes of innovative enterprises.

This press conference featured a specially designed roundtable discussion, during which Mingdu Intelligent Cloud invited numerous industry leaders from innovative life sciences companies to jointly discuss pain points encountered in the R&D process, andHow to Provide Targeted Solutions for Pain Points in R&D Through AI Fundamental Research, Empowering Digital Transformation。

Roundtable Discussion

When discussing the pain points of digital transformation, Dr. Xie Wenhao from the Fresenius Kabi R&D Center stated that the pharmaceutical industry is a traditional sector facing numerous challenges in its digital transformation. Key issues requiring in-depth exploration include achieving data interoperability, data linkage, data filtering, data extraction, and ensuring data security. Dr. Zhang Yechuan from the Mingdu Zeeta Innovation Center noted that different types of data can be processed using corresponding AI technologies. She shared two practical examples of her team leveraging AI to empower digitalization. First, she addressed how AI processes medical imaging data, focusing on resolving pain points associated with AI-driven data computation and achieving clinical usability. Second, she highlighted how AI can facilitate target discovery by empowering multi-omics data analysis, and discussed how to integrate this technology into the MSP platform.

As a representative of the CDMO sector in the roundtable discussion, Alex Zhang from Hengten Biologics also stated that the greatest challenges facing CDMO companies lie in cost and efficiency. He questioned whether big data analytics and AI assistance could help avoid unnecessary trial-and-error processes, thereby achieving an overall reduction in costs. Dr. Hu Yimin from the Zeeta Innovation Center at Mingdu Zhijian indicated that, regarding drug development, his team has already embarked on a series of explorations leveraging new AI algorithms, bringing innovation to traditional industries through the application of these new technologies. He further stated that, in addition to the application of AI within the MSP platform, the team has begun this year to integrate AI and automation technologies into the commercial manufacturing phase of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), applying them to late-stage Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls (CMC) activities, with the aim of driving innovation in the traditional API industry.

Wang Fei stated,Data and AI are the two most critical strategic directions for the Mingdu Science platform, serving as the cornerstone for all of Mingdu’s products over the next five years.Looking ahead, Mingdu Intelligent Cloud will continue to strengthen its capabilities in data and AI, expand into more application scenarios, and empower the entire life sciences sector.

“At the current stage of new drug development, we have covered subfields including small molecules, large molecules, and cell and gene therapies. Leveraging the flexible, configurable, and scalable nature of our platform, as long as there is an R&D process, we can adapt to diverse application scenarios by combining different applications, thereby empowering more specialized industries,” said Wang Fei.

Reforms in the pharmaceutical industry present both challenges and opportunities for drug companies; stagnation will only lead to gradual decline amid competition. Leveraging digitalization and AI tools to guide drug R&D has become a key strategic move for pharmaceutical enterprises to gain a competitive edge during industry consolidation.

With the official launch of the MSP platform and the onboarding of more ecosystem partners, Mingdu Intelligent Cloud will center on its ultimate mission of “Safeguarding Every Medicine, Protecting Every Patient.” By leveraging big data and artificial intelligence technologies, it will provide global pharmaceutical enterprises with secure, efficient, innovative, and sustainable digital R&D solutions, accelerating the advent of the era of digital intelligence in the pharmaceutical industry.