We’ve all been there. Waiting to binge watch fun videos on YouTube, we’ve zoned out while enduring a painful 15-second commercial and clicked the “skip ad” button as soon as it appeared.　What does this say about today’s digital consumers? It means a lot of people love to watch online videos that are interesting or relevant but they will shut off videos they dislike or have no interest in – which means most corporate advertisements on the web.　Eyeing the rise of online video and relevant consumpt

Technology Feb. 1, 2017

South Korean internet giant Naver said Tuesday that its research and development subsidiary Naver Labs will speed up efforts to develop new technologies for the autonomous vehicles and car sharing businesses.　Naver Labs — which became an independent company from Naver in early January — has included “car components manufacturing and service” as well as “car sharing” to its articles of association which outlines the new firm’s purpose and duties, Naver said.The Naver headquarters in Pangyo (Naver

Technology Jan. 31, 2017

The hit augmented reality mobile game “Pokemon Go” enjoyed a successful first week in South Korea, overstepping the sub-zero temperatures and initial worries that the game had lost steam due to its belated launch here.The app has secured around 6.98 million users and 7.58 downloads in Korea as of Monday, according to data compiled by local mobile app marketing intelligence firm WiseApp. The game was released here on Jan. 24. (Niantic)The figures include only Android-based smartphone users and no

Technology Jan. 30, 2017

The European Medicines Agency has granted official sales approval to a new Lantus biosimilar developed by US-based Merck Sharp & Dohme with partial funding from Samsung Bioepis.　The European drug regulator approved MSD’s Lusduna -- a biosimilar drug referencing Lantus (insulin glargine), an insulin-based diabetes treatment originally developed by Sanofi -- on Jan. 4. It is the second Lantus biosimilar to be approved by the EMA after Eli Lilly’s Basaglar, another biosimilar referencing Sanofi’s t

Industry Jan. 25, 2017

The number of South Koreans “effectively unemployed” topped 4.5 million for the first time in 2016, according to new data released by Statistics Korea on Monday.　According to the state-run statistics agency, the number of “effectively unemployed” Koreans -- including those without a job, prospective job seekers and people who work less than 18 hours a week -- surpassed 4.54 million last year.  (123RF)That number is around 4.5 times higher than the number of “officially unemployed” Koreans formal

Industry Jan. 23, 2017

South Korea’s main biotechnology business body is looking to work in conjunction with the government to foster at least 10 local biotech companies with revenue of more than 100 billion won ($85.03 million) in 2017.　“Today, biotechnology is all about speed,” said Korea Biotechnology Industry Organization President Seo Jeong-sun during a New Year’s biotech industry meeting hosted by the government Friday.“Currently, there are only 302 biotech companies which have reached the break-even point, whic

Industry Jan. 22, 2017

The US Food and Drug Administration has released a draft guideline detailing what drug companies must do to obtain “interchangeability” designation for their lower-cost biosimilars referencing biologic drugs.　The draft guidance, announced on Jan. 17, presents a clearer, albeit stringent, roadmap for drugmakers seeking to challenge sales of the world’s topselling biologics whose patents have expired, with cheaper alternative biosimilar drugs.　For a biosimilar to be judged “interchangeable” with i

Industry Jan. 19, 2017

The South Korean government said Tuesday that it would invest 98.2 billion won ($82.76 million) in improving its evaluation guidelines for new biopharmaceutical products over the next 10 years. The plans came as part of the latest agenda set by a special pan-government biotechnology committee led by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning.The body was established in March 2016 to streamline all policymaking related to the country’s fast-growing biotech business and to act as a “control

Industry Jan. 17, 2017

Line, the mobile messenger established by South Korean internet giant Naver, was the second-most profitable app in the world in 2016, a new year-end report from Sensor Tower showed Monday.According to the mobile app marketing intelligence firm, global music streaming app Spotify generated the highest revenue in the nongame app category for the Apple App Store and the Google Play app store combined.Line came in second, followed by US-based movie and television show streaming service Netflix, onli

Technology Jan. 16, 2017

The UK High Court of Justice will commence Monday its trial on Samsung Bioepis and Biogen’s lawsuit against AbbVie and its patents for its top-selling rheumatoid arthritis drug Humira, according to official court documents obtained by The Korea Herald.　Japanese drugmaker Fujifilm Kyowa Kirin Biologics (FKB) will also be taking on AbbVie in the same trial, as a claimant siding with Samsung Bioepis and Biogen.　According to a ruling by Justice Henry Carr last month, which was made available on the

Industry Jan. 15, 2017

The South Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said Friday that it will recall 10 wet wipe products manufactured by Yuhan-Kimberly, as they contain excessive methanol. “We have confirmed that some of Yuhan-Kimberly’s wet wipes were unintentionally manufactured to contain between 0.003 to 0.004 percent methanol, which exceeds the permitted 0.002 percent,” the ministry said.“As a result, we are ordering a sales freeze and recall of 10 of Yuhan-Kimberly’s wet wipe products.”Of the 10 affected pr

Industry Jan. 13, 2017

Samsung BioLogics is currently in talks over new supply deals with 15 global pharmaceutical companies, said the CEO of Samsung Group’s contract drug manufacturing unit during the 35th JPMorgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco.　“Thanks to its exclusive plant construction and operation capabilities, Samsung BioLogics has already sealed production deals worth $2.9 billion with six global pharmaceutical companies to produce nine products,” Kim Tae-han said during a presentation delivered Tuesd

Industry Jan. 11, 2017

South Korea’s leading mobile carrier SK Telecom said Tuesday it has agreed to collaborate with leading US-based graphic chip maker Nvidia for the development of new platform technologies for autonomous vehicles.“We will merge Nvidia’s autonomous driving technology with SK Telecom’s ‘T Map’ navigation program and SK C&C’s cloud computing technology to develop our own self-driving platform technology,” a SKT spokesperson told The Korea Herald.The SKT-Nvidia partnership was first publicized by SKT’

Technology Jan. 10, 2017

South Korean biopharmaceuticals company SK Chemicals said Tuesday that a hemophilia treatment it licensed out to its partner CSL Ltd. has been approved for sale in Europe, marking another major market entry breakthrough.The European Medicines Agency, Europe’s drug regulator, granted marketing and sales approval for Afstyla, a biologic drug for hemophilia A, to CSL Behring, a subsidiary of CSL Ltd.Afstyla, or NBO601 (SK Chemicals)Afstyla was originated by SK Chemicals and licensed out to Australi

Industry Jan. 10, 2017

South Korean mobile carrier KT is out to target a niche market of small companies looking for an affordable network security system with a new network protection device for computers called the “Wiz Stick.”　Priced at just 90,000 won ($75), KT’s Wiz Stick is a portable, multifunctional security device offering comprehensive network protection capabilities as well as “security token” technology used to authenticate a person’s identity online.Designed for application to a single computer, the Wiz S

Technology Jan. 9, 2017