Biologics drug developer Celltrion said Wednesday it will accelerate its insulin pen biosimilar development along with medical device manufacturer Poonglim Pharmatech. Celltrion will begin developing the insulin biosimilar this year with aims to commercially launch the product in 2025. The global insulin pen market is deeply dominated by foreign pharmas, Celltrion said in a press release, drawing a line under Korea’s need to have domestic capabilities for the drug. Celltrion said that i

Binex, a contract development and manufacturing organization for biologics drugs, said Tuesday that it has joined a consortium of companies pursuing mucosal vaccine for COVID-19. A mucosal vaccine is designed to boost the immune response of human mucous, blocking out a respiratory pathogen’s entry to human body. Binex is participating in the project as the manufacturing powerhouse for preclinical drug samples. It has biologics manufacturing facilities in Songdo and Osong, which are capa

LegoChem Biosciences shares hit the daily price limit of 30 percent on Monday after it announced a bonus issue -- offer of free additional share to existing shareholders for every stock they hold. “We have decided on the bonus issue, taking into consideration the low volume of stocks kept our company undervalued despite the series of upbeat license-outs,” said a LegoChem Biosciences official. The company, which is listed on secondary bourse Kosdaq, will newly issue 1,283,070 pre

Samsung Electronics announced Monday the launch of its new Odyssey G7 gaming monitor that has the world’s first curvature radius of 1,000 millimeters. First unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show 2020 in Last Vegas in January, the Odyssey G7 provides more immersive and comfortable gaming experience with less strain on the eyes. “Samsung Odyssey G7 curved monitor is the ultimate combination of curvature, comfort and competitive edge, giving gamers the advanced performance they n

Celltrion on Monday announced that its antiviral COVID-19 treatment candidate CT-P59 reduced the amount of SARS-CoV-2 virus in infected ferrets 100-fold in preclinical trial results, with significant improvements in lung lesions. The company said it will proceed with the first human clinical trials in July. If the results are replicated in human test subjects, CT-P59 will gain an edge in potentially becoming an acknowledged therapy for the ongoing global pandemic. “Celltrion is drawing

Victims of emerging infectious disease suffer post-traumatic stress disorder due to social stigma, Seoul National University Hospital said Monday, prompting a renewed look at how COVID-19 confirmed patients are framed in the popular narrative. SNUH, together with National Medical Center, conducted a follow-up study on the psychological aftereffects of EID on 63 Koreans who had contracted and survived the Middle East respiratory syndrome in 2015. A total of 186 patients are registered in the

The fight against cancer is continuing despite the worldwide turmoil amid the coronavirus pandemic. The American Society of Clinical Oncology, the most authoritative annual gathering of anti-cancer drug researchers, chose to proceed with this year’s event online. The ASCO20 Virtual took place from May 29-31, inviting some 40,000 experts from over 70 countries to speak on various forms of tumors and the attempts to discover new, more advanced treatments for different types of cancer. Fr

  진행자: 임정요, Paul Kerry 1. Recycling centers face desperate battle to survive 아이튠즈(아이폰): https://itunes.apple.com/kr/podcast/koliaheleoldeu-paskaeseuteu/id686406253?mt=2 팟빵 (안드로이드): http://www.podbbang.com/ch/6638 [1] The global coronavirus pandemic is threatening the future of plastic recycling in South Korea, as major recycling centers are incurring mounting losses amid a collapse in global demand. *incur: (비용을) 물게되다 *mounting: 쌓이는 *collapse: 붕괴 [2] Many are being forced to cut costs

Remdesivir, an investigational ebola treatment by US-based Gilead Sciences that is increasingly being pursued as as an effective COVID-19 treatment globally, has now become the barometer for all future coronavirus treatments, according to Seoul National University Hospital on Monday. SNU Hospital and Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, are two clinical trial sites for remdesivir in Korea included 73 sites across the world. “This NIH clinical research proves remdesivir as th

Daewoong Pharmaceutical said Monday it has acquired halal certification for its biologics drug Easyef solution. Easyef solution is a recombinent human epidermal growth factor that treats diabetic foot ulcer. “Since December 2019, it is required for all biologic drugs distributed in Indonesia to indicate whether they are halal certified or not. In order for the wider Muslim population to be able to access our drugs, we are expanding the number of halal certified products,” a Daewo

China’s race to enter mainstream tech is intensifying against not only the US but also its neighbor South Korea. With China aggressively pushing advancements of key technologies, Korea has been forced to take up the gauntlet before it is too late. The Korea Herald’s Tech Team has looked into four key areas to measure the technological gap between Korea and China and to offers forecasts about how the competition would develop. This is the second installment. By IT Team (2) Displ

Celltrion Pharm, a chemical drugs unit under the wing of Celltrion Group, has vowed to push harder to advance its human immunodeficiency virus drug pipeline, to move ahead of competitors that face a slowdown in pharmaceutical supply due to COVID-19. Celltrion Pharm said Friday that it will increase its workforce by 15 percent for its plant in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, to run the facility around the clock for an expanded attention to its HIV treatment pipeline, CT-G7. This is a stra

Samsung Biologics has bagged two contract manufacturing deals worth 468 billion won ($378 million) combined, according to its regulatory filing Friday. The total value of the latest deals is equal to two-thirds of the company’s revenue for last year at 701 billion won. According to the biopharmaceutical unit of Samsung, it inked a contract manufacturing deal worth 284 billion won with global biopharma GlaxoSmithKline to manufacture the latter’s lupus treatment Benlysta. Benlyst

Macrogen, a genomics biotech company, announced Thursday that its AxenTM Covid-19 RT test kit has gained the Drug Ministry’s approval for export. “We are planning to supply our test kit to major countries, which contacted us even during the test kit development phase and were looking forward to export approval together with us,” said Macrogen CEO Lee Su-kang. “We will not only improve our test kit’s performance to detect numerous mutations of coronavirus, which

State-run science institutes in South Korea are employing mathematical, chemical and biological research to track and crack the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of the findings from their pursuits were presented at a gathering of experts hosted by the Government-wide R&D Fund for Infectious Diseases Research and Center for Convergent Research of Emerging Virus Infection on Wednesday in Seoul. “We have found a new platform for vaccine development for recombinant subunit vaccine,” s

SK Pharmteco, a consolidated global pharmaceuticals manufacturing chain of SK Group, will provide US-based Phlow with pharmaceutical ingredients to offset supply shortfall in the country, SK Holdings announced Wednesday. The Donald Trump administration has announced it will buttress the project with $812 million funding over the next 10 years. SK Holdings owns US’ Ampac Fine Chemicals and more contract manufacturing organization facilities in Europe and Korea. In January 2019, it estab

Over 20 Korean biologics firms are revving up their engines to go public in 2020. DreamCIS, Psomagen, SCM Lifescience, Kainos Medicine and SK Biopharmaceuticals are set to list on main bourse Kospi and secondary Kosdaq before July. Market watchers are also keeping their eyes on HK inno.N Corp. (formerly CJ Healthcare), GI Innovation and Vuno. All in all, counting the firms who have requested stock market operator Korea Exchange for preliminary examination for listing, the biologics firms that m

Bioneer, a molecular diagnostic kit and analytics reader machine maker, said Wednesday it has signed an agreement with Indonesia’s Genomik Solidaritas to supply COVID-19 test kit readers worth 6.8 billion won ($5.5 million). As per the deal, Bioneer will deliver 25 sets of ExiStation 48, including nucleic acid diagnostic agent and real-time polymerase chain reaction COVID-19 test kits. Nine ExiStation 48s and kits, worth 1.5 billion won, will be supplied first, followed by the remainin

The COVID-19 pandemic has clipped wings of many global conferences in the first half of 2020, but not IFA 2020. Unlike many other exhibitions that have opted to continue this year's event in an online format, the 2020 Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin will push through as a real-life event from Sept. 3 through 5 at the usual location of Messe Berlin exhibition hall. IFA Executive Director Jens Heithecker, at the online global press conference conducted on Tuesday, said that this year's I

Major tectonic shifts were noticed in the rankings of top 10 South Korean biologics and pharmaceutical firms in the first quarter this year, according to latest data Tuesday. Almost every company had their placements readjusted based on their first-quarter earnings reports. Celltrion soared to the top with revenue of 372.8 billion won ($304 million) from last year’s seventh spot at 221.7 billion won. Yuhan, which sat on the top last year with 345 billion won revenue, slid to the second