Samsung Bioepis has begun the final stage clinical trial of postmenopausal osteoporosis treatment SB16, the company said Tuesday. SB16 (denosumab) is a biosimilar referencing Amgen’s Prolia, whose global annual sales marked over 3 trillion won ($2.74 billion) in 2019. The phase 3 clinical trial of SB16 is anticipated to be completed by March 2023, just in time for the company to derive analysis and push for commercialization of the drug by Prolia’s patent expiration in major mark

South Korean diagnostics company Seegene is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the global COVID-19 crisis. On Monday, the molecular biotech firm announced that its aggregate revenues so far this year topped 1 trillion won ($916.3 million) on the back of strong demand for COVID-19 test kits and diagnostic machines. That is nearly 10 times larger than the 122 billion won reported for all of 2019. “The COVID-19 pandemic has raised public trust in Seegene’s molecular diagnostics rea

The aphorism that a crisis can be an opportunity has never struck home so much as it has for vaccine companies in the era of COVID-19. Not only has the pandemic raised awareness of the role of vaccines in health care, but it also expedited crucial advances in innovative vaccine technologies such as messenger ribonucleic acid, or mRNA, vaccines. Heightened public interest in individual vaccine firms is another plus. Speaking to the media for the first time since assuming his role on Aug. 25, v

LG Chem is taking steps to carry out its pledge to create no more carbon emissions by 2050. Starting 2021, the company’s cathode material plant in Wuxi, China, will run entirely on reusable energy provided by the local Leyou New Energy Materials, LG Chem said Sunday. Carbon emissions reduction from the change is expected to be 100,000 tons a year. This has the effect of planting 1.7 million trees every year, the company said. Leyou New Energy Materials generates reusable energy using w

With the daily number of new COVID-19 cases surpassing 1,000 for the first time Sunday, South Korea’s bet on the most feasible exit plan from the mayhem is treatments, not vaccines. While both vaccines and treatment may be needed to extinguish the pandemic for good, so far for Korea, treatments are making quicker advances to actual use on people here. National household names Celltrion and GC Pharma are inches away from acquiring conditional use permits from local health authorities, ac

Wizbiosolutions started in 2010 as a one-man company. A decade of research and development down the road, it has encountered the ultimate stressor that has catapulted its growth -- the global COVID-19 pandemic. Wizbiosolutions’ portable diagnostics system, which enables field diagnostic test at airports and harbors, as well as room temperature storable reagent for polymerase chain reaction, have been key to the company’s successful Series A funding amounting to $10 million in Octobe

Samsung Biologics on Tuesday appointed John Rim as the new chief executive officer to replace former-CEO Kim Tae-han. Kim’s departure from Samsung Biologics comes nearly 10 years after the company’s foundation in 2011. The new CEO Rim is a Korean American with 34 years of experience working for global pharmaceutical firms such as Yamanouchi, Genentech and Roche, where he had been chief financial officer. Rim has been with Samsung Biologics since 2018, where his first role was as e

  　SK Holdings on Monday announced an investment of $200 million in a new subsidiary to be founded by Roivant Sciences -- the name of which remains undecided -- that will use its targeted protein degradation technology.   　This is a key step in SK Group’s pivot to biologics business, SK Holdings said, citing its focus on growing markets more than maturing ones, and a search for “disruptive tech” that could create synergy with SK Biopharmaceuticals and SK Pharmteco.

Poongsan Group Chairman and CEO Ryu Roy Jin joined the CSIS Board of Trustees, Friday. The Center for Strategic and International Studies is a Washington-based think tank. “I am delighted to welcome Roy to our Board of Trustees,” said CSIS President and CEO John J. Hamre. “CSIS will benefit tremendously from his global vision and innovative spirit.” Since 1998, Ryu has served as chairman and CEO of Poongsan Group, one of the largest manufacturers of copper products a

South Korea has a new export item. COVID-19 diagnostic reagents notched a 2.5 trillion won ($2.3 billion) performance up to end-November. Diagnostic reagents are among the most fundamental components of diagnostic testing assays. Simply put, it is critical to have a well-functioning reagent to accurately discern a COVID-19 infection. According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and the Korea Customs Service on Friday, Korea had exported enough COVID-19 diagnostic reagents to cover 496.8

South Korea on Thursday held the nation’s annual rite of passage -- the Suneung, the standardized college entrance exam -- on which it’s an understatement to say that students stake their future. The question of how to hold a college entrance exam during a global pandemic has been a headache for many. In the US, the Educational Testing Service has made its graduate admissions test, the GRE, available at home in the interest of social distancing, while the College Board went back on

LG Chem‘s non-alcoholic steatohepatitis treatment pipeline TT-01025 has been approved to carry out a clinical phase 1 trial by the US Food and Drug Administration, LG Chem announced Wednesday. The phase 1 trial will be conducted by PPD’s clinical research unit in Las Vegas, with LG Chem‘s Manfred Stapff as the lead researcher. TT-01025 is a pipeline LG Chem licensed in from Chinese biotech TransThera Biosciences in August. LG Chem has exclusive rights to develop and commerci

Philips Korea has picked local startups Mezoo, Medipixel and Vuno to seek shared growth in the field of digital healthcare, the company said Wednesday. Philips Korea will collaborate with these three startups and aid their overseas business. As part of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups’ policy to create synergy between corporates and startups, Philips Korea has taken charge of a contest since July to find startups with the best blueprint for better hospital management, clinical results,

Naver Cloud and GS Global will collaborate on their overseas services, the companies said Tuesday. The new alliance with GS Global gives Naver Cloud a channel to liaise with large-scale corporate clients in target countries, while for GS Global it allows for a business expansion opportunity into information technology, they said. “Naver Cloud has the most global region services among cloud platforms developed by Korean firms,” said Park Won-ki, CEO of Naver Cloud. “It has h

Unity Technologies Korea will raise 1 billion won ($904,000) in funding together with ONEstore to operate a technology support program for game developers in Korea, it announced Tuesday. At an online press conference held a day ahead of the opening of its annual Unite Seoul 2020, Unity Korea reviewed its yearly performance and laid out the road map for the Unity game developing engine next year. “More than 64.8 percent of Korea's top 1,000 mobile games in 2020 were developed using

South Korean companies developing COVID-19 treatments overseas are one after another announcing how their endeavors are progressing. On Monday, NeoImmuneTech said it finished administering its NT-I7, an interleukin-7 pipeline stabilized with a patented technology, on lightly affected COVID-19 patients in the US.  The company has yet to derive a result from the test, but NT-I7 was previously demonstrated as safe and efficacious in cancer patients by creating new lymphocytes. Lymphocytes

Celltrion, located in Songdo, Incheon, is being extra vigilant against the sudden spike of COVID-19 patients in the city, as it awaits conditional approval of its antibody treatment, according to a person familiar with the matter, Monday. “Employees at Celltrion are now advised to take their work laptops home with them every day, so that in the case we become confirmed patients, we can immediately work from home under quarantine,” a Celltrion employee told The Korea Herald under the

As South Korean battery makers LG Chem and SK Innovation inch toward the deadline for a final ruling by the US International Trade Commission, scheduled for Dec. 10, rumors are swirling that the institution may delay the decision a third time, according to industry sources on Sunday. “There are multiple factors that make the rumors about a third delay plausible, such as the changing US administration and the continued spread of COVID-19,” an industry source told The Korea Herald.

After the explosive listing of SK Biopharmaceutical in June this year, initial public offerings of biologics companies are anticipated to continue their strong streak in 2021.   　Among those already known to be coming to the market next year, the ones attracting the most attention are SK Bioscience and HK inno.N, formerly CJ HealthCare.   　SK Bioscience, under SK Chemical and SK Discovery in SK Group’s governance structure, is a vaccine maker. The company boasts the world&rsqu

LG Display is seeking to expand the use of organic light-emitting diode display panels at smart homes by teaming up with startups. On Thursday, LG Display announced eight candidates out of some 80 startups who have taken part in a contest the company has hosted since July to select open innovation partners. The eight are Roha, TheFamilyLab, AllBlanc, Verses, Yeastudio, VTouch, BeJewel and Volla. From here, the candidates will proceed to the next round where three finalists will be narrowed do