Prof. Howard Lee discussed how the COVID-19 pandemic could change the current paradigm of drug and vaccine developments at a symposium, organized by the Graduate Schools, Seoul National University, October 7, 2020. The symposium featured 5 speakers, each from a graduate school at SNU, and the title of the symposium was "Corona Pandemic: Where Is South Korea Heading?" Each speaker presented his/her view on the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought upon various aspects South Korea has been and will be facing since its beginning. 

Prof. Lee pointed out the unprecedented amount and speed of vaccine/drug developments since the pandemic, which could prompt and hasten the disruption of the old ways to develop drugs and vaccines, such as more virtual and remote clinical trials, open innovations based on massive private-public partnership, and acceptance of new innovative technologies. Prof. Lee's presentation can be watched here. Or, there is a YouTube streaming too as seen below.

The Issue Diagnosis for COVID-19 by YTN has invited Prof. Howard Lee to go over and discuss various political, societal, al, and scientific issues pertaining to the pandemic caused by the COVID-19. Prof. Lee stressed to stick to the scientifically proven preventive methods such as wearing a mask and social distancing, while he was not in favor of forceful prohibition of any public demonstrations by the government, particularly for the ones organized by those who were the political opposites. In addition, Prof. Lee explained why it is important to exploit various diplomatic ways. networks, and routes to secure a sufficient number of vaccines for Korea, long before they are not even available yet.

More details as to what Prof. Lee spoke in the program can be watched at one of the following YouTube links (one short, the other long). 

Prof. Howard Lee was invited to a forum as the plenary speaker, organized by Congressman Lee Yongho and co-sponsored by the Future Health Network on September 23, 2020. The forum was entitled "How to Enhance Patient Access to New Drugs", and Prof. Lee overviewed the issues pertaining to the current Positive Listing system (PLS) in Korea to curtail pharmaceutical expenditure nationwide. In 2006, the Korean government changed the pharmaceutical pricing system such that only drugs showing sufficient cost-effectiveness could be reimbursed by the National Health Insurance System. Unlike the initial expectation and intention, however, PLS has not contributed much to reducing the nationwide drug expenditure, while it has significantly inhibited patients from getting access to new innovative medicines. In this context, Prof. Lee emphasized PLS had to be supplemented by new systems to drastically promote patient accessibility to new drugs such as realistic and flexible ICER thresholds, extension of the risk sharing arrangement to other disease and therapeutic areas than orphan and serious diseases where no reliable treatments are existing and available, cutting expenses in generic support and medical services that have not proven their efficacy, safety, or cost-effectiveness, and developing new social funds other than health insurance. 

Prof. Lee's presentation was received with a mix of approvals and objections, the latter of which came mostly from the government side including the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Heath Insurance Review and Assessment, and the National Health Insurance Service. The whole forum was televised live through YouTube.

Prof. Howard Lee was featured in YouTube live casting, sponsored by K-Healthlog, where he explained the current status of vaccine developments for the COVID-19 pandemic. Prof. Lee also discussed what issues are going to be important after a vaccine is successfully developed, for example, quality manufacturing, procurement of a sufficient number of doses, herd immunity, vaccine acceptance for and affordability by the public. You may find more interesting details by watching the videoclip below. A detailed summary of the YouTube live was also published here.  

Prof. Howard Lee was invited to a seminar sponsored by the Samsung Science & Technology Foundation in association with the Future Technology Study Forum, held on August 28 at the SNU Hoam Faculty House, where he summarized the current status and future prospects of treatment and vaccine developments against the COVID-19 pandemic. Prof. Lee further discussed how the pandemic could change the way new drugs are developed in the post-pandemic era, characterized by social distancing and stay-at-home orders, often termed as "Untact".

Prof. Lee forecast the new drug development paradigm will be characterized as remote and virtual, particularly for clinical drug development in that many research activities should be performed off-clinic. "These changes will eventually facilitate and fasten the adoption of new information and communication technologies, for example, remote data entry and life-log data", Prof. Lee emphasized. According to Prof. Lee, urgency cased by the public unprepared-ness such as the COVID-19 pandemic will also encourage researchers to welcome more innovative technologies, one of which is the application of artificial intelligence algorithms to reposition new therapies, which could save tons of R&D time and expenses. 

Jung-Hyun Won, a summer intern at CCADD, has significantly contributed to the final presentation slide deck. Jung-Hyun and Prof. Lee will be writing one or two reviews/commentaries, which could be published in peer-reviewed journals.   

Three months ago, CCADD was awarded an intramural grant to present an AI forum to develop new research ideas, hopefully leading to an extramural grant application, for the efficient use of AI technologies for new drug development. Concluding this interdisciplinary endeavor, Prof. Howard Lee talked at the X+AI Workshop 2020 on August 24, along with 10 other PI's. The AI  forum Prof. Lee has led consisted of an interdisciplinary team of seven professors at SNU, and they have met weekly or biweekly a total of 8 times, all virtual due to the Corona pandemic, which is utterly unheard of. 

At the Workshop, Prof. Lee summarized what objectives the team has accomplished in various research areas in drug development where AI technologies can be adopted. Furthermore, Prof. Lee emphasized what hurdles needed to be overcome if more AI technologies could be employed to make the current drug developments practices faster, less costly, and more efficient. Prof. Lee's talk was well received, and he was approached by several PIs in other fields after the Workshop, who would like to extend their research network. 

CCADD is currently working on an extramural grant application based on the insights gained at the forum. In addition, Prof. Lee's presentation can be watched at YouTube below. 

Prof. Howard Lee has officially expressed strong disapproval of the reimbursement for 'cheobyak' or the mixture of herbal (or natural products-derived) drugs. In a roundtable provoked by the impending reimbursement decision of cheobyak by the Korea National Health Insurance Service against the objections by medical and scientific societies altogether, Prof. Lee raised intense disagreement with the government policy to support reimbursement of cheobyak. Prof. Lee argued that cheobyak has never been shown to be efficacious and safe through scientific assessments by the regulatory agency such as the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in Korea, not to mention its uncertain quality as a medicine. He continued, discussing "The cost-effectiveness of any cheobyak has never been validly studied and confirmed, which is the minimal requirement for any drug approved and listed for health insurance reimbursement in Korea." 

A summary of Prof. Lee's presentation at the roundtable can be found in many newspaper articles, one example of which is here. Additionally, his full presentation has been uploaded to YouTube as seen below:        

In the afternoon of 22nd May, the members of CCADD went on a picnic to the Gwanggyo Lake Park. After completing a regular schedule in the morning such as lab meeting and book reading, all members left the lab with excitement.

To ensure social distancing in apprehension of the COVID-19 pandemic, CCADD opted for an outdoor picnic as team building rather than indoor activities such as bowling or movie-watching, and it turned much more fun! Upon arrival, they instantaneously regretted not to have more opportunities for the past 4 years or so to come to such a beautiful place just nearby with eye candy scenery and great decks for walking. The weather was also perfect, not too cool, not too warm.

After enjoying a chat while having To-Pi-Chi (Toppoki, Pizza and Chicken), a favorite food combination for all the CCADD members, they played a couple of fun games from Korean TV shows – which are ‘Shouting in the Silence’ and ‘Sketch Quiz’. They laughed a lot seeing funny moments during the games; it was truly a time for healing, refreshing, and team building!

Wrapping up the picnic in time just before it rained, they decided to come to the Gwanggyo Lake Park again soon and often.

CCADD has successfully assembled an interdisciplinary research team at SNU, interested in the application of AI to the development and optimal use of drugs. Recently, the team has received a small, but important, intramural grant to coordinate a series of forums to stimulate, develop, and nurture new, innovative research ideas in the field, entitled “Artificial intelligence for drug development and its optimal use (PI: Prof. Howard Lee)”. Prof. Young Kee Shin, Prof. Eugene C. Yi, Prof. Park Young Joo (from MMBS), Prof. Bongki Moon (from the Dept. of Computer Science and Engineering), Prof. Jung Mi Oh (from the College of Pharmacy), Prof. Jinwook Choi (from the Interdisciplinary Program in Bioengineering), and graduate students in the research teams will meet regularly starting early June 2020 through mid August.

The intramural grant of 3 million Korean won or $2,500 was awarded by the SNU AI Committee. Through the forum, recent progresses in applying AI and machine learning techniques to drug development and its optimal use will be reviewed. Furthermore, the forum will actively seek novel research topics in the fields, which CCADD hopes to end up leading to new grant applications.