South Korean drug maker LG Life Sciences said Thursday that it has secured a $81 million deal to supply its 5-in-1 multifunctional vaccine Eupenta to UNICEF from 2017-2019.The LG-owned pharmaceutical firm won the order as part of the UN-based organization’s annual procurement bid for 5-in-1 vaccines, the largest in the world. LG Life Sciences’ 5-in-1 vaccine Eupenta (LG Life Sciences)LG won 13 percent of UNICEF’s total supply orders set for 2017, 25 percent of orders for 2018, and 34 percent of

Industry Oct. 20, 2016

South Korean prosecutors concluded its four-month probe into irregularities at Lotte Group on Wednesday, indicting group chairman Shin Dong-bin, four other family members and company executives on charges of embezzlement, tax evasion and corporate malpractice.　　But the prosecution failed to address other core suspicions surrounding Lotte -- such as the existence of a large-scale slush fund and bribery involved in scoring approval to build the Lotte World Tower in southern Seoul.　The prosecution

Industry Oct. 19, 2016

South Korean cosmetics-makers searching for new growth overseas are turning their eyes to the Middle East, a region with a fast-growing cosmetics sector and untapped market potential.　Home to a predominantly Muslim population, the Middle East presents hard-to-miss opportunities, according to industry analysts. Muslim spending on cosmetics is expected to grow from $46 billion in 2013 to $73 billion by 2019 to account for over 8.2 percent of global expenditure, according to “The State of the Globa

Industry Oct. 18, 2016

US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer said Tuesday that it would begin selling a Remicade biosimilar developed by South Korean biopharma company Celltrion in the US from late November.　Pfizer plans to offer Inflectra, a biosimilar drug referencing Johnson & Johnson’s blockbuster autoimmune disease drug Remicade, at a price that is 15 percent lower than the original drug. It is the first Remicade biosimilar to go on sale in the US.　Pfizer currently holds exclusive rights to commercialize Celltrion’s Rem

Industry Oct. 18, 2016

South Korean prosecutors raided the Hanmi Pharmaceutical headquarters in southern Seoul on Monday as part of a probe into suspicions the local drugmaker leaked information on a major deal termination to select investors in insider trading.The Seoul Southern District Prosecutor’s Office said it has seized documents, hard disks and other potential evidence containing information on Hanmi’s disclosures and licensing deals.Hanmi Pharmaceutical headquarters in southern Seoul (Hanmi Pharmaceutical)Han

Industry Oct. 17, 2016

K Cube Ventures, a startup investment fund owned by South Korean internet giant Kakao, announced Monday it has invested 405 million won ($356,000) in Jubilee Works, the developer of mobile scheduling app “Jubilee TimeTree.”　The Kakao unit made the investment alongside a number of other local and global investors, including Seibu Shinkin Capital, SMBC Capital Markets, Plantree Partners and Toei Animation. Together, these companies invested a total of 2.3 billion won into Jubilee Works.Founded in

Technology Oct. 17, 2016

South Korean chemicals firm LG Chem said Sunday it will invest 287 billion won ($253 milllion) over the next three years to raise the ethylene production capacity of its naphtha cracking center by 230,000 tons.　The ethylene production capacity of LG Chem’s naphtha plant in Daesan of South Chungcheong Province will increase to 1.27 million tons, the largest production in the world as a single production facility, the firm said.　LG Chem’s expanded Daesan plant, together with an additional naphtha

Technology Oct. 16, 2016

The South Korean Supreme Court’s latest ruling that wiretapping warrants could not be used for the country’s dominant mobile messenger app KakaoTalk  is igniting controversy between the prosecution and those who view the eavesdropping as overly intrusive.　Last Thursday, the Supreme Court of Korea ruled that conversations taken from KakaoTalk servers cannot be recognized as wiretapped evidence, as they were not seized in real time as mandated by the legal definition of “wiretapping.”The ruling on

Technology Oct. 16, 2016

South Korean biopharma company Celltrion said Thursday that its Rituxan biosimilar has shown the same therapeutic effects as the originator drug in its third phase clinical trials.Celltrion’s Truxima is a biosimilar drug referencing Roche’s lymphatic cancer treatment Rituxan. Biosimilars refer to cheaper, near-replicas of biologic drugs that have lost patent protection.(Yonhap)Celltrion said that it has accumulated clinical data from Truxima’s third phase clinical trials that proves the pharmaco

Industry Oct. 13, 2016

South Korean network carrier SK Telecom on Thursday shared its long-term plan and ongoing efforts to push forward the development of Internet of Things technologies that make use of its newly deployed LoRaWAN network.　The LoRAWAN network, which stands for “long-range wide-area network,” is designed to transmit small amounts of data at very low speeds of below 5 kilobits per second from battery-equipped objects to base stations across long distances.Participants attend a press conference for this

Technology Oct. 13, 2016

South Korean biopharma company Green Cross said Thursday that it has decided to officially halt US-based clinical trials of its recombinant DNA-based hemophilia treatment GreenGene F to concentrate its resources on the Chinese market.　The firm said that the decision was based on the new direction and strategy that it has set for its global business agenda.“Given the rising investment costs and burden involved, Green Cross decided to end the clinical trials of GreenGene F in the US,” Green Cross

Industry Oct. 13, 2016

In the aftermath of Samsung Electronics’ decision to discontinue sales and production of the problem-ridden Galaxy Note 7 globally, attention is now shifting to which alternative smartphones consumers around the world will turn to instead.　Samsung on Tuesday announced that it is “officially ending the sales as well as production of the smartphone to ensure consumer safety,” following multiple incidents in which the exchanged Note 7 devices fitted with new batteries caught fire due to overheating

Technology Oct. 12, 2016

SK Telecom officially released TG&Co.’s mid-tier Luna S smartphone in South Korea on Wednesday, seeking to win over customers looking for a premium smartphone at a lower cost. 　Priced at 568,700 won ($506), the Luna S is available in four colors — classic gold, natural silver, rose pink and frozen blue — and sold exclusively through SKT retailers and the telecom firm’s online shopping mall T World Direct.Those who select the most-popular Band Data Perfect payment plan (65,890 won per month) — wh

Technology Oct. 12, 2016

South Korea’s exports dropped 18.2 percent in the first 10 days of October from a year earlier, data from the Korea Customs Service showed Tuesday.Total exports reached $9.47 billion from Oct. 1-10, down from $11.58 billion in the same period last year.Exports of semiconductors fell 5.9 percent on-year and those of wireless devices plunged 31.2 percent. Shipments of cars and auto parts declined 51.9 percent and 20.3 percent, respectively.The sharp drops were attributed to the ongoing partial str

Oct. 11, 2016

South Korea’s telecom industry is geared to sustain sizeable losses from the official sales suspension of Samsung Electronics’ problem-ridden Galaxy Note 7 smartphone just two months after its launch.　Earlier Tuesday, Samsung Electronics said it will ask “all carrier and retail partners globally to stop sales and exchanges of the Galaxy Note 7 while the investigation is taking place” to prioritize consumer safety. 　The suspension announcement came one day after Samsung halted the production of t

Technology Oct. 11, 2016