On August 16, the Joint R&D Center for Artificial Intelligence and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) Biosynthesis was officially established by Hunan Yineng Pharma Co., Ltd. (Yineng Pharma), Dongting Laboratory, Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hunan Agricultural University, and Yuelu Mountain Laboratory.
The center aims to use artificial intelligence (AI) technology to overcome bottlenecks in the large-scale production of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), helping transform natural drug research and development from experience-based trial and error to data-driven approaches.
What Are Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs)?
Active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) are the substances in pharmaceutical products that produce the therapeutic effects. They can be regarded as the “chips” of medicines.
For example, artemisinin from Artemisia annua and paclitaxel from the bark of the yew tree both fall within the category of APIs.
At present, many high-value APIs rely heavily on extraction from natural plants. However, traditional extraction methods are often associated with high costs and limited yields.
To address these challenges, the Joint R&D Center will focus on areas including:
- AI-driven efficient discovery of active pharmaceutical ingredients
- Reconstruction of biosynthetic pathways for core APIs
- Development of approaches to improve API acquisition and production efficiency
The center aims to address key industry challenges such as the difficulty of obtaining active pharmaceutical ingredients, low production yields, and high production costs.
Strong Research Foundation in Natural Products and Functional Ingredients
The center’s lead scientist, Academician Yang Shan, has led a research team that has focused on citrus processing and functional ingredients for decades.
Under his leadership, China’s international market shares of canned citrus products and flavonoids have reached more than 80% and 60%, respectively.
Relying on Dongting Laboratory, the team has also made several breakthroughs in the construction of microbial cell factories for functional natural products such as flavonoids.
These accumulated research achievements provide the Joint R&D Center with comprehensive technical capabilities ranging from cell factory construction to pilot-scale validation.
A New Industry-Academia-Research Collaboration Model
According to Yi Yueneng, Chairman of Yineng Pharma, the Joint R&D Center adopts a new industry-academia-research collaboration model featuring platform support, academic innovation, and enterprise commercialization.
Under this model, Academician Yang’s team will be responsible for basic research and laboratory-scale development, while Yineng Pharma will focus on pilot-scale expansion and industrial commercialization.
This approach is designed to combine the complementary strengths and resources of the participating organizations.
Yineng Pharma has been deeply engaged in the field of digital and intelligent traditional Chinese medicine for 17 years. Through an AI + API structure-activity relationship (SAR) validation system, the company states that the development cycle from traditional API raw material research and development to mass production can be reduced from several years to several months.
AI-Driven API Research and Pilot-Scale Production
At present, Yineng Pharma has collected samples from more than 500 medicinal material cultivation and harvesting bases across China and accumulated an API dataset containing more than 100 million data records.
Based on these resources, the company is developing specialized intelligent agents for areas including:
- Cell factory construction
- API toxicity prediction
- Drug efficacy prediction
- Rapid validation of preparation processes
The company also operates a 3,000-square-meter pilot-scale production line established according to GMP standards.
This production line supports 100-kilogram to 3-ton-scale API formulation CDMO, providing an integrated connection between pilot-scale validation, scale-up production, and commercial manufacturing.
AI to Support New API Discovery and Biosynthesis
Going forward, the Joint R&D Center will leverage AI technology to analyze API data sources and rapidly identify new active molecules.
The center will also work to:
- Predict optimal synthesis pathways for highly active pharmaceutical ingredients
- Build efficient microbial “cell factories”
- Support precision medication
- Facilitate new drug development
- Promote the high-value utilization of by-products from agricultural product processing
Through the integration of AI technology, biological synthesis, academic research, and industrial production, the Joint R&D Center aims to promote the upgrading and development of API industrialization in Hunan Province.
Post time: Aug-21-2026