Regional associations of Korean pharmacists are boycotting imported over-the-counter drugs from Japan, recommending Korean alternative products to patients.Some of the popular Japanese OTC drugs in Korea include: Takeda Pharmaceutical’s fatigue-restoring vitamin Actinium; teardrop solution Rohto; stomatitis treatment Albothyl; cold remedy Whituben; Kobayashi Medicine’s eye-cleaning agent Eyebon; Nichiban’s first-aid bandage Careleaves; and Kowa’s digestion medicine Cabagi

Industry July 29, 2019

Telecommunications firm SKT is giving users a new option to watch League of Legends matches from an in-game champion’s perspective, the company announced Friday. Users subscribed to SKT’s 5G plan can put on goggles to enjoy three new services. Jump AR lets users virtually access the LoL Park stadium in Jongno, Seoul, from anywhere. VR Livestream broadcasts the LoL Championship Korea competition in virtual reality. And VR Replay enables viewers to watch the match from a champion&rsquo

Industry July 26, 2019

The market for packaging has grown along with the popularity of online shopping, deliveries and home meal replacements. Korean food manufacturing giant CJ projected that sales of home meal replacements would triple from 240 billion won ($203 million) in 2017 to 700 billion won by 2020. Tapping into this trend, Anycos, which opened a factory in January in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, is prepared to annually manufacture roughly 40 million meters of plastic packaging materials for food, cosmetics a

Industry July 26, 2019

It is just five minutes’ walk from Seodaemun Subway Station in central Seoul to get out of the glittering city and travel back in time to the early 20th century. The Donuimun Museum Village resurrects an old Seoul neighborhood of the 1960s-1980s with a barbershop, movie theater, arcade, comic book store and more. About 30 historic houses were repurposed and given a new life at the brink of demolition for the public park. Opened in October 2017, the area is the result of the city

Culture July 26, 2019

LG Chem will invest 500 billion won ($424 million) in building a 60,000 ton-capacity cathode material plant in Gumi, north Gyeongsang Province by 2024, the company said Thursday. Cathode is one of the four main parts of a lithium ion battery, alongside the anode, electrolyte and membrane. The cathode accounts for 40 percent of the raw materials cost of electric vehicle batteries. “Starting with the investment in Gumi, LG Chem will kick spur into producing its own core materials for batteri

Industry July 25, 2019

The Korea Biotechnology Industry Organization issued a statement Thursday calling for a withdrawal of Japan’s move to exclude South Korea from the trade whitelist, citing the peaceful nature of bio pathogens trade and the open collaboration required to foster the technology worldwide.The organization represents more than 300 companies, including major pharma and biotech firms. Japan requires approvals for trade of human, animal, plant pathogens and toxins, as well as fermenters and cross-f

Industry July 25, 2019

NCSoft, a pioneer in artificial intelligence research among Korean game companies, is shifting beyond the tech applicable to games to cover various original AI tech for cross-genre industries. Under the drive of CEO Kim Taek-jin and President Yoon Song-yee, the company put together an AI research team as early as 2011. Eight years forward, the company now has around 150 AI research-focused staff. NCSoft touts that its AI know-how is of international standards -- CEO Kim is quoted to have exchang

Industry July 25, 2019

Hyundai and Kia Motors won the Platinum Award in the 2018 LACP Vision Awards for the quality of their sustainability reports, the companies said Wednesday. LACP, short for League of American Communications Professionals, annually screens some 1,000 business reports from roughly 20 nations for awards.In this round‘s review, Hyundai Motor’s 2018 sustainability report was recognized in the digital and online criteria, and Kia Motors for sustainable management criteria. Both companies re

Industry July 24, 2019

Samsung Bioepis said Wednesday it has gained the US Food and Drug Administration’s approval for Hadlima, a biosimilar of AbbVie’s blockbuster autoimmune disease treatment Humira. This is the firm’s fourth biosimilar to get FDA approval, after Renflexis (Infliximab), Ontruzant (Trastuzumab) and Eticovo (Etanercept).Hadlima (adalimumab-bwwd) is developed by Samsung Bioepis and will be commercialized in the US by Merck from June 2023, according to a settlement with AbbVie.&nb

Industry July 24, 2019

Korean biopharmaceutical company Celltrion’s distribution arm Celltrion Healthcare said Tuesday that it has joined Australia’s Generic and Biosimilar Medicines Association to prepare for direct sales of its biosimilars Truxima and Herzuma in the country.Celltrion Group’s three main biosimilars -- Remsima, Truxima and Herzuma -- are currently estimated to be worth 330 billion won ($280 million) in the Australian market. Autoimmune diseases treatment Remsima was launched as Infle

Industry July 23, 2019

LG CNS will provide free coding training to elementary and middle school students from Tuesday at Sejong University as part of its corporate outreach, the company said Tuesday.The four-day, three-night “IT Dream Project” is LG CNS’ yearly summer project that began in 2017. LG CNS has so far provided the program to some 7,500 middle school students across 60 schools in Korea.“The advent of mandatory coding classes from elementary school has led to a market for costly priva

Industry July 23, 2019

Korean biopharma firms Chong Kun Dang and Dong-A ST expect to launch their biosimilars in Japan without a headwind, despite escalating trade strife, as their drugs will be represented by Japanese partner firms. The erythropoietin drug Nesp, for which the patent expires in Japan this year, is a catalyst for red blood cell production and can treat anemia from chronic renal failure or anticancer treatments.The original drug is a joint venture of US’ Amgen and Japan’s Kyowa Hakko Kirin.

Industry July 21, 2019

Three-dimensional printing of human organs is not some far-fetched fiction. Active research of the relevant technologies has gained pace around the globe, especially here in South Korea, where the academia, industry and government are paying keen attention to the convergence of medicine, mechanical and computer engineering. For now, Korean technology has come as far as printing skins with cell-encapsulated bioink to replace animal tests.(Video shot by Choi Ji-won and Lim Jeong-yeo, edited by Lim

Industry July 21, 2019

Medytox shares on Friday fell on news reports that the botulinum toxin maker was responsible for illegal administration of Meditoxin prior to gaining the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety’s approval.Medytox shares finished Thursday at 415,000 won ($123), 1.96 percent down from a day earlier. At one point during the day the shares fell to 391,300 won, marking the lowest point in 52 weeks. The shares continued to vacillate undecidedly throughout Friday.  Medytox admitted it had administe

Industry July 12, 2019

Conferences can get dull when language barriers cloud a visionary’s message.Paddy Cosgrave, the co-host of Asia’s biggest tech conference, RISE, said in a closed-door interview with The Korea Herald on Wednesday that he hopes to bring more non-English speaking CEOs onstage at the global tech conferences he holds by using conference mobile apps to expand simultaneous translation services. “The RISE app this year provides Mandarin translations for all the sessions,” Cosgrav

Industry July 11, 2019