Samsung Biologics, the world’s largest contract development and contract manufacturing organization for biologics drugs, said Tuesday that its third plant complies with international standards for business continuity management systems. The plant is certified for compliance with ISO22301, a global standard set by the British Standard Institution, meaning the company’s business operations would experience minimal disruptions in the event of an accident or natural disaster. Samsung

GC Pharma said Monday that it would give out its blood plasma-derived COVID-19 treatment for free to domestic patients. The company’s pipeline, GC5131A, is currently under development and mass distribution is due in the second half of 2020. Huh Eun-chul, the CEO of GC Pharma, wrote to shareholders requesting their understanding over the company’s decision to put long-term health care stability over short-term profit. Many firms have previously offered potential COVID-19 treatmen

Korean biotech firm Genexine’s COVID-19 deoxyribonucleic acid vaccine pipeline GX-19 is ready for clinical testing, as soon as it applies to the Drug Ministry for human testing. Binex, which is part of the consortium that developed the drug, said Monday that it has completed manufacturing the supply enough for a clinical phase 1 trials of the drug. GX-19 is a potential COVID-19 vaccine developed based on Genexine’s DNA vaccine know-how. It is being collectively pursued by a consor

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is doling out a series of funding for epidemic countermeasure research in Korea. SK Bioscience, a vaccine researcher and developer firm, said Monday that it has nabbed $3.6 million financial backing from the US foundation for to research the biologic structure of an optimal antigen for epidemics. This comes a day after the announcement of some $9.7 million funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for Korean telecom company KT’s research fo

Korean telecommunications firm KT will research for epidemic preparedness solutions, backed with 12 billion won ($9.7 million) in funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. KT said Sunday that the philanthropic foundation had wished for an epidemics monitoring study carried out in Korea -- a country of widespread smartphone penetration equipped with 5G infrastructure. The research, called “A Next Generation Surveillance Study for Epidemic Preparedness,” will seek to dev

The power people associate with lush hair is perhaps most palpable in the biblical story of Samson and Delilah. Samson, a man of formidable strength, is weakened after Delilah crops his hair -- the source of his strength. Abundant hair is a sign of youthfulness, health and vivacity. It is often associated with good looks, and many men who begin to lose it go to great lengths to reverse the course of balding. Currently, as far as pills go, there are more than 200 generic versions of finasterid

　South Korea’s Hanmi Pharmaceutical may consider legal action against global biopharma Sanofi, as the French company abruptly decided to halt participation in further research on efpeglenatide, a potential treatment for Type 2 diabetes. The two have been jointly developing efpeglenatide, discovered by Hanmi.   　The Korean pharma issued a notice to shareholders Thursday, saying there were still 120 days to renegotiate and that it might take legal action against Sanofi if circumstances

    　Real-time polymerase chain reaction COVID-19 detection test kit maker Seegene saw a whopping 600 percent jump in its consolidated operating profit and net profit in the first quarter of 2020, according to company filings Thursday.   　Seegene rose from being one of many molecular diagnosis companies to a globally acknowledged high-profile firm after it became one of the first to produce a real-time PCR COVID-19 test kit.   　The company said it posted a consolidated rev

The annual Bio Korea International Convention will take place online for the first time this year, in an innovative approach that involves virtual reality exhibition pavilion and remote business meetings. “Instead of calling off the global gathering for the opportunity to share the latest medical and pharmaceutical endeavors, we have decided to jump over the spatial limitations by taking the event online,” said Kwon Deok-cheol, president of Korea Health Industry Development Institu

Optimistic timelines regarding the pharmaceutical race to produce a drug for COVID-19 have been met with skepticism, but even doubters do not deny that a vaccine or a treatment is desperately needed. “There can never be a complete (economic) recovery unless a working vaccine is developed and distributed,” said Chung Chul, senior vice president and acting president of the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy, in a press briefing Tuesday at the Sejong Government Complex

The drastic fall in duty-free shopping amid the ongoing global pandemic has eroded some 6 billion won ($4.9 million) from aesthetic solution company Hugel’s cosmetics product revenue. Hugel’s first-quarter report, filed Wednesday, showed the company suffered a 16 percent drop in on-year revenue at 41.2 billion won, a 25.1 percent drop in on-year operating profit at 12.3 billion won and a 52.4 percent fall in on-year net profit at 6.6 billion won. In the same period last year, Huge

Celltrion announced Wednesday its anti-viral pipelines development for Middle East respiratory syndrome and COVID-19 have been selected as national projects. The Korea Health Industry Development Institute, under the Welfare Ministry, had sought applications for infectious disease prevention and treatment tech projects, intended to encourage research and development of “cold case” treatments. Celltrion now has a total budget of 3.7 billion won ($3 million) for potential MERS trea

SK Biopharmaceutical is tapping the 4 trillion won ($3.2 billion) US antiepileptic drug market with Xcopri, the company said Tuesday. Xcopri, the company’s brand of cenobamate tablets, is the product of SK Biopharmaceutical CEO Cho Jeong-woo‘s 15-year research and development drive. The drug is an alternative treatment for adults with partial-onset seizures. “Patients can have different responses to the various seizure medicines that are available. (Xcopri) provides an ad

Boryung Pharmaceutical has acquired all rights to Eli Lilly’s anti-cancer drug Gemzar in South Korea, the company said Monday. “We have strengthened our anti-cancer treatment portfolio through Gemzar. With continuing investments, we will grow the anti-cancer department as one of Boryung’s representative business areas,” said CEO Ahn Jae-hyun. Gemzar (gemcitabine) is a nucleoside metabolic inhibitor indicated for pancreatic cancer and, in combination with other drugs, i

SK Holdings said Monday it is the lead investor in Singapore-based Hummingbird Bioscience’s $6.5 million Series B extension funding round. Hummingbird Bioscience, founded in 2015 in Singapore by former members of global pharma giant Sanofi, researches for novel antibody drugs. Antibody drugs are immunoproteins that selectively dock on, and attack, malignant proteins that become seeds for tumors and diseases. Hummingbird Bioscience is specially armed with a platform technology called Rat

Subcutaneous infliximab injection Remsima SC is towing Celltrion’s revenue in 2020, according to the company, Friday. Despite the COVID-19 scare dampening the global economy, Celltrion said in a regulatory filing that it saw a 68.2 percent on-year revenue growth and 55.4 percent on-year operating profit growth in the first quarter. Celltrion posted 372.8 billion won ($305.4 million) in revenue and 120.2 billion won in operating profit. Remsima SC is a subcutaneously injectable inflixi

The COVID-19 pandemic is proving to be a boon for online service providers. Korea’s NHN, for one, posted a 59 percent increase in year-on-year net profit in the first quarter on the back of a strong performance by its online payment solution, Payco, and its online games. According to its regulatory filing on Friday, NHN posted revenue of 394.6 billion won ($323 million), up 6.5 percent on-year; operating profit of 28.3 billion won, up 30.2 percent on-year; and net profit of 17.6 billio

LG Chem is still investigating the gas leak in Visakhapatnam, India, that killed at least 11 and sent about 1,000 people to hospitals. “There was no second leak, but we have requested the police to evacuate the local residents in case the temperature within the tanks goes up,” said an LG Chem official, denying media reports suggesting more leaks were happening at the plant and that the number of casualties could grow. “We are currently undertaking necessary measures to cool

Subcutaneous rheumatoid arthritis treatment Remsima SC launched in the Netherlands, its third European market, Celltrion Healthcare said Thursday. Remsima SC is an under-the-skin injection of infliximab biosimilar that treats autoimmune diseases. So far, it is approved to treat RA indication, and is still in the process of adding inflammatory bowel disease indication. Celltrion Healthcare said it inked a partnership with the biggest Dutch private health insurance company CZ, who will return

“Saturated” is a word often used to describe the Korean botulinum toxin market, which has been dominated by first movers Medytox and Hugel. But the playing field is about to undergo a major shift, as No. 1 player Medytox faces the possible revocation of its license to sell cash cow Meditoxin. Anticipating the potential disappearance of Meditoxin, several players are already out to grab a slice of the pie. Hugel, Daewoong Pharmaceutical, Huons, Chong Kun Dang and more are lining up