An agile corporate culture and digital capability are key to overcoming economic uncertainties and adapting to new challenges, said Huh Tae-soo, the new chairman of GS Group, in his New Year’s address in Seoul on Thursday. Huh, who replaced his older brother Huh Chang-soo last month, was addressing 150 employees who gathered at his first face-to-face meeting.  In an ever-changing era of trade tensions and digitalization, Heo said that GS Group will focus on consumer needs, foster an a

The bioservice industry -- biologics contract research and manufacturing firms -- marked the most on-year growth of 23.9 percent in 2018, KoreaBio said Tuesday.The association, which represents over 300 biologics companies here, surveyed 993 local firms between June 3 and Oct. 31 in collaboration with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The firms spanned a diverse range of sectors -- biopharmaceutical, biochemical and bioenergy, biofood, bioenvironmental, biomedical equipment, bioinstrum

Livestock health care company uLikeKorea on Monday announced a new patch type diagnosis device for horses, signaling its intent to make inroads into the global horse health care market worth $300 billion with 60 million horses. Coinciding with the portfolio expansion, uLikeKorea said it has established the Livecare Denmark office in Copenhagen.  “The patch-type device for horses, developed for the first time in the world, predicts diseases and monitors activity levels,” said uLi

Netmarble’s acquisition of water purifier rental firm Woongjin Coway on Monday is facing skepticism from investors who feel it should focus on its core competencies to prove further growth potential.The South Korean game company revealed its intention to branch out to a whole new business field in October, when it was named the preferred bidder for a 25.08 controlling stake in Coway. Netmarble CEO Kwon Young-sik had said in a conference call with investors that the acquisition is a part of

Biotechnology / LemonexLemonex, a global biotherapeutics and bioengineering firm, is garnering attention with its innovative next-generation drug delivery and biosensor technology on the basis of which it is developing immuno-oncology drugs, antibody and gene therapeutics. The company has won the 2019 11th Innobiz Company Award sponsored by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and hosted by The Korea Herald and the Herald Business and supervised by PowerKorea. Lemonex’s core technologies are

Heads of Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are to attend the Consumer Electronics Show 2020 in Las Vegas from Jan. 7-10.Samsung’s Consumer Electronics division CEO Kim Hyun-suk will deliver the keynote speech on Jan. 6, the company said Sunday. LG’s president and chief technology officer Park Il-pyung had been the keynote speaker at the CES 2019.  Top officials from Samsung to attend the CES 2020 are Device Solution division’s vice chairman and CEO Kim Ki-nam, IT &

Given the average amount of alcohol Koreans consume on a daily basis, it is no wonder the hangover cure market here has been continuously growing at an annual 15 percent. The demand for these cures is especially strong around the end-of-year season during which time Koreans spend night after night socializing one last time before the year ends.But the truth is the exact mechanism to erase a hangover is not scientifically identified as of yet, and the hangover cures out in the market are merely b

Although not many realize it, men should also be vaccinated to prevent female cervical cancer as the virus can be easily transmitted, according to health experts.“By changing of sexual partners, men can transfer the HPV virus from other women. If the governmental budget allows, it’s ideal for the national immunization program to include males in the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination before they experience sex to reduce the risk of female cervical cancer,” said Lee Jae-kwan

Telecom firm KT said Friday it will launch a subscription-based 5G cloud gaming service in South Korea starting March, exclusive for its 5G users.The first 10,000 KT users to download the game streaming app will be given a two-month free trial period to play some 50 games on the app. A thumb-sized detachable mini joystick developed by Motion Queen, will be given out to them for free, allowing for an immersive gaming experience without requiring a Bluetooth connection, KT said. The company is the

SK Holdings and British-Swedish pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca on Thursday said their strategic partnership has so far produced medication for some 3 million diabetic patients and yielded annual revenue of $100 million. SK Holdings CEO Jang Dong-hyun and AstraZeneca Chairman Leif Johansson agreed to strengthen their collaborative efforts for mutual benefit during a meeting in Seoul, held as part of the Korea-Sweden summit talks.Sweden’s Minister for Foreign Trade Anna Hallberg, Yu Jeoung-

Daewoong Pharmaceutical’s botulinum toxin Nabota has acquired the United Arab Emirates and Indonesian health authorities’ approvals for forehead wrinkle smoothening functions, the company said Thursday. This is the first time a Korean BTX has forayed into the two countries, characterized by their halal customs and the untapped, sizable markets. “Both UAE and Indonesia are posting continuous growth of their pharmaceuticals markets,” said Park Sung-soo, head of Daewoong&

Blood cell diagnosis startup Noul was acknowledged at the 2019 Grand Challenges Annual Meeting for its innovative Malaria diagnosis solution, miLab, the company said Wednesday. The Grand Challenges Meeting is an annual gathering of global organizations promoting global health care. This year’s event held in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia, was co-hosted by the African Union, Ethiopia’s Ministry of Health, Grand Challenges Canada, the United States Agency for International D

When Korean telecom firm KT decided to open a platform leveraging its big data on consumer behavior, it searched for other models to benchmark, but found it difficult. It finally zeroed down on the Shanghai Data Exchange, founded in 2016. The two organizations have since signed a memorandum of understanding to work on cross-border collaboration to nurture a global big data platform.SDE’s Vice President Lu Yong and COO Shen Xiangyu said in an exclusive interview with The Korea Herald that t

Telecommunications firm KT said Tuesday it has opened South Korea’s first artificial intelligence-based big data platform to be shared and used by individuals and business on demographics, real estate and consumption trends, among others.The new platform, named KT Big Data Platform, will enable 113 terabytes’ worth of big data trading between individuals and 16 institutions, the firm said. It started operations Monday. Some of its most prominent features are the AI-powered data predi

The Korean drug safety authority said Monday that it is directly reviewing products containing metformin, the Type 2 diabetes treatment whose commercialized variants in Singapore have been tested to contain an unacceptable level of a cancer-causing impurity. This impurity, called N-nitrosodimethylamine, or NDMA, was found in three out of 46 metformin finished products sold in Singapore. Singapore’s Health Sciences Authority recalled the products. Metformin is widely used to treat Type 2 di

Celltrion, South Korea’s leading biosimilar manufacturer, announced Monday that it has acquired rights to a total of 11 generic chemical drugs in the US, the world’s biggest pharmaceutical market.The company has since early 2019 been pushing to expand its business portfolio to cover not only copies of patent-expired biologics drugs, but also generic copies of chemical drugs. Its subsidiary, Celltrion USA, has bought the rights for nine other generic copy drugs, other than the existin

Metformin, a drug used to treat Type 2 diabetes, was once heralded as a first-in-class treatment for which there was no substitute. Now it is sparking international concerns over a contaminant that may cause cancer.The debate has taken off in South Korea as well, and on Friday the Korean Diabetes Association urged the nation’s drug safety authority to test every drug containing metformin. The potentially carcinogenic impurity, called N-nitrosodimethylamine or NDMA, had previously been dete

Korean biologics drug companies, including major players Celltrion and Samsung BioLogics, agreed Friday to localize materials for bio drug production. Incheon Metropolitan City hosted the event attended by some 110 personnel from the biologics industry. Incheon houses Korean biologics production facilities. Korea’s 1.69 trillion won ($1.4 billion) bio industry output in 2017 has climbed annually, and is anticipated to rake in well over 2 trillion won. However, 98 percent of the materials u

Germany’s Delivery Hero, the operator of food delivery app Yogiyo here, is set to acquire its main Korean competitor Baedal Minjok, in the largest merger and acquisition deal of an internet startup in the country. Woowa Brothers, which runs the Baedal Mijok app, announced Friday that Delivery Hero will become its majority stakeholder with a stake of 87 percent, while setting the value of the firm at $4 billion. Delivery Hero is listed on the Frankfurt bourse and has been expanding its pres

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on Thursday reiterated its advisory against the use of e-cigarettes, citing recent evidence of carcinogenic ingredients. After reviewing 137 liquid e-cigarettes, authorities concluded that some of the products contained flavorings that cause cancer. Several contained vitamin E acetate, which impairs lung functioning when inhaled.  None of the products, however, contained THC, the active ingredient in cannabis, which also has harmful effects. THC was not