China's ChemLex unveils S'pore drug discovery lab powered by Al

Fully automated one-north facility cuts manual labour, odds of human error

- Ovais Subhani Senior Business Correspondent

ChemLex, a Chinese chemical research startup, has launched its global headquarters and its unique Al-powered, fully automated laboratory for drug discovery and development in Singapore's innovation hub one-north.

Founded in 2022 in Shanghai, ChemLex uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to radically accelerate discovery of synthetic molecules for the pharmaceutical industry, significantly reducing time-to-market for drugs and medicines.

At the core of ChemLex’s lab is a 24/7 autonomous chemistry system that accelerates chemical discovery, making it far more cost-efficient and significantly more sustainable than traditional lab methods, said the company.

It merges AI, robotics and chemical engineering to create a self-driving lab that autonomously plans, performs and analyses scientific experiments, minimising manual labour and the odds of human error.

Driving this is an innovative Al-powered, fully automated synthesis line, which runs experiments autonomously, captures data in real time and transforms chemical discovery from a stop-start process into a smooth workflow.

Mr Sean Lin, founder and chief executive of ChemLex, said using an automated and intelligence platform significantly shortens the delivery cycle of the chemical synthesis process in the drug development cycle. It also reduces the costs associated with chemical synthesis, breaking free from the current high dependence on manual operations in medicinal chemistry synthesis.

“We are building an R&D (research and development) engine that compresses months of synthesis and optimisation into weeks or even days, transforming both the speed and certainty of discovery,” he said at a launch ceremony on Dec 5 at its chemical synthesis facility and global headquarters in Ayer Rajah Crescent.

“Singapore strengthens this effort and provides us with an ecosystem to scale rapidly and support partners globally who need this capability now,” he added.