Celltrion held more than 180 business meetings at BIO USA 2026 in San Diego, the highest number in the company's 17-year history at the event, as the Korean biopharmaceutical firm pushed to expand partnerships around AI-driven drug development, antibody-drug conjugates, and multispecific antibodies.
The company participated in the 2026 BIO International Convention from June 22 to 25, marking its 17th consecutive appearance since 2010. Meetings spanned new drug development, technology cooperation, production efficiency, and supply chain competitiveness. Working-level officials from Celltrion's ADC and multispecific antibody programs attended to introduce the company's capabilities and explore joint development opportunities with global partners.
AI takes center stage in partnering discussions
Celltrion used the conference to highlight its growing use of artificial intelligence across drug discovery and development. The company drew interest for its AI-based target discovery platform, next-generation multispecific antibody design technology, in silico developability assessment tools, and a data-driven research platform called Healthcare Intelligence Bank. These AI-related technologies became a major focus of discussions with global companies, reflecting interest in Celltrion's strategy to move beyond its established biosimilar business into new drug development.
The company also discussed cooperation in materials, parts, and equipment sectors, aiming to improve manufacturing efficiency and strengthen technological competitiveness. Follow-up discussions are planned after the event to develop potential partnerships further.
Record booth traffic signals rising industry profile
More than 2,000 visitors came to Celltrion's booth during the four-day event, another record for the company at BIO USA. The booth featured content explaining the company's AI-based drug development strategy and future growth vision, along with an interactive event that gave modular keycaps to survey participants.
A Celltrion official said the turnout reflected increased industry attention. "At this year's BIO USA, Celltrion held more than 180 business meetings, the largest number in its history, and more than 2,000 visitors came to our booth, showing heightened interest in the company," the official said. "Interest was especially strong in next-generation growth engines such as ADCs, multispecific antibodies and AI-based technologies, beyond our existing biosimilar business."
The official added that Celltrion will work to turn the partnering opportunities into concrete results. "We plan to further develop the global partnering opportunities discovered through this event and do our best to ensure that the next-generation growth engines that drew strong interest from industry officials and investors lead to meaningful outcomes," the official said.
Why this matters for IT and development professionals
Celltrion's heavy emphasis on AI-based target discovery, in silico developability assessments, and the Healthcare Intelligence Bank data platform signals a growing demand for machine learning engineers, data scientists, and software developers who can build and maintain these systems. The shift from biosimilars to AI-native drug discovery means more biopharma companies will need technical talent capable of working with large-scale biomedical data, designing predictive models, and integrating AI into wet-lab workflows. For developers already working in or adjacent to AI for Healthcare, this represents a widening set of career opportunities. The same tools and techniques apply across AI for Science & Research, where computational methods are increasingly central to drug discovery pipelines.
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