SAN FRANCISCO -- Lotte Biologics will invest around $3 billion by 2030 to build new CDMO plants in South Korea, Lotte Biologics CEO Richard Lee announced during the company’s presentation at the 41st JPMorgan Healthcare Conference held in San Francisco, Tuesday. The investment will go toward building three plants, with a combined manufacturing capacity of 360,000 liters, 120,000 each, according to Lee. About $1 billion will be needed per plant, Lee estimated. The company will start to buil

SAN FRANCISCO – South Korean pharmaceutical giant Yuhan is seeking to increase cooperation with researchers and biotechnology firms based in the US, with hopes to benefit from the nation’s abundant human resources and research opportunities. “Yuhan might be a leading pharmaceutical company in South Korea, but in the US market, it is still an underdog,” said Yuhan USA CEO Yoon Tae-won during an interview held on the sidelines of the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference, the la

Korea Herald correspondent SAN FRANCISCO -- The 41st Annual JPMorgan Healthcare Conference kicked off on Monday in San Francisco. This year, three South Korean companies will give presentations, while many others will hold meetings to attract new partners and investors. Around 550 presenting companies have descended on the Californian city, in addition to thousands of investors and biotechnology executives from around the world. From Korea, Samsung Biologics, Lotte Biologics and SD Biosensor h

Korean internet portal giant Naver announced Friday that the company has completed its acquisition of Poshmark, a US social commerce marketplace for fashion, a move to penetrate into the global consumer-to-consumer market. Naver's special purpose company Proton Parent acquired all shares and its assets of Poshmark for $1.31 billion. Its enterprise value stands at about $1.2 billion. With the transaction, Poshmark withdrew its plan to go public on the US Nasdaq, Naver said. Naver first decid

Celltrion announced Thursday that the company has cleared the regulatory hurdle to sell Vegzelma, a biosimilar referencing Roche's Bevacizumab sold under the brand name Avastin, in the Canadian market. Vegzelma, or also known as CT-P16, is used to treat a number of types of cancers including metastatic colorectal cancer and non-small cell lung cancer. According to Celltrion, Canada’s drug regulator Health Canada has authorized the sale of the drug for all indications that Roche's

Stock prices of some South Korean biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies have increased based on expectations that China’s sudden spike in COVID-19 cases could positively impact their sales. On early afternoon Wednesday, the stock price of in-vitro diagnostics company SD Biosensor’s stock price went up 5.9 percent to 29,600 won ($23.24). Seegene, another major in-vitro diagnostics company, saw its stock price climb 6.5 percent to 27,800 won. Their stock price hikes came after the

Lotte Group has completed a $160 million acquisition of US drug firm Bristol Myers Squibb, the group’s drug manufacturing unit Lotte Biologics said Tuesday. With the latest deal, the country's fifth-largest retail-chemical conglomerate has made its official debut in the contract manufacturing market, after the group established Lotte Biologics in June last year as its biopharmaceutical subsidiary. Lotte Biologics said the company completed all acquisition processes on Dec. 31 to absor

A merged entity of Posco Group’s trading arm Posco International and power generation unit Posco Energy has been launched with the former Posco President Jeong Tak as its new CEO, Posco International announced Monday. With the latest merger, the country’s largest trading company has scaled up, with annual sales surpassing 40 trillion won ($31 billion) and its annual operating profit reaching around 1 trillion won. In terms of sales, Posco International, the second-largest company wit

South Korea’s major biopharma companies were hit by a combined loss of 55 trillion won ($43.5 billion) in their market capitalization last year, Korea Exchange data showed Sunday. According to Korea Exchange, the KRX Health Care Index, comprising 83 major biotech and pharmaceutical companies listed on either the benchmark Kospi or tech-heavy Kosdaq, fell 29.2 percent on-year to 2,634.49 points as of Thursday, from 3,721.17 on Dec. 30, 2021. The combined market capitalization of the 83 list

Samsung Bioepis has brought forward its interchangeability study of Hadlima to speed up its processes for obtaining interchangeability designation in the US market, according to industry sources on Sunday. Hadlima is Samsung Bioepis' biosimilar referencing AbbVie’s blockbuster drug Humira, used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis and other conditions. Samsung Bioepis previously planned to complete its study needed to establish the interchangeability

Whiskey in South Korea is notoriously expensive. Prices may have fallen slightly over the decades, but whiskey is still considered to be pricey here. For example, the retail price of Jack Daniels Whiskey in a 750-milliliter bottle on Amazon in the US is $24.99, whereas the same whiskey is priced at 60,000 won, or around $47, on SSG.com, an e-commerce platform owned by retail giant Shinsegae Group. There could be many variables to decide the retail prices of distilled spirits. Price policies are

Celltrion announced Friday that it completed submission of a biologics license application for subcutaneous version of biosimilar to anti-inflammatory medicine Remicade the US drug regulator. CT-P13 SC, or Remsima SC, is Celltrion’s subcutaneous formulation of the company’s infliximab biosimilar referencing Johnson & Johnson’s rheumatoid arthritis treatment Remicade. CT-P13 SC is the world’s first SC formulation of biosimilar infliximab, which has earned sales approva

LegoChem Biosciences, a South Korean drug company, announced on Friday that the company signed a technology transfer agreement with US multinational biopharmaceutical company Amgen to transfer antibody-drug conjugate technology. The contract could potentially be worth 1.6 trillion won ($1.2 billion), the Korean firm stated in a public disclosure. ADC is a medicine that can deliver highly potent chemotherapy agents to kill cancer cells. Under the contract, LegoChem Biosciences will transfer an an

Samsung Bioepis and Chong Kun Dang are expected to launch their biosimilar versions of Lucentis, an age-related macular degeneration, or AMD, medicine sold by Novartis and Roche, according to industry sources as reported in local media on Thursday. AMD is an eye disease that can blur a patient's central vision. In terms of sales, the local market for AMD medicines is estimated to reach around 32 billion won ($25 million) as of last year, while the global market is estimated to be worth 4.4

Sales of over-the-counter medicines at convenience stores in South Korea have increased amid the latest resurgence of COVID-19 infections and outbreak of seasonal influenza. Since November 2012, the government has allowed convenience stores to sell several kinds of over-the-counter medicine. According to convenience store chain GS25, sales of cold medicines between Dec. 1 and 15 increased by 128.3 percent on-year. Sales of other over-the-counter medicines also went up 78.1 percent during the per

Top executives of South Korea’s largest businesses are embarking on a business charm offensive in a move to expand their global presence. Many executives are now expected to participate in upcoming global business events, such as the World Economic Forum and the Consumer Electronics Show next year in a move to get face-to-face contact with their industry peers. So far, only SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won has confirmed his trip to the WEF in Davos, Switzerland. However, there are chances fo

Jungheung Group Vice Chairman Jung Won-ju has been selected as the new chairman of Korea Housing Builders Association. KHBA is one of the two largest housing associations in South Korea. The association has around 7,800 construction companies as its members. The association on Thursday held a general meeting where they elected Jung as its new leader. “I feel a great responsibility as business conditions for construction companies are becoming tougher amid recent interest hikes and real eco

Hyundai Steel on Thursday said the company has forged a new alliance to develop anti-flood measures that will protect its manufacturing facilities. On Wednesday, representatives from Hyundai Steel, Hyundai Engineering, Haejeon Industry and the Korean Society of Steel Construction signed a memorandum of understanding, according to the steelmaker. Choi Ju-tae and Park Chan-woo, senior managing directors at Hyundai Steel and Hyundai Engineering, joined the signing ceremony held in Hyundai Steel

The Ministry of Science and ICT on Wednesday announced its midterm plan to nurture the local biotechnology industry, aiming to pour about 400 billion won ($303 million) annually from next year into securing key technologies in the field. South Korea will “implement the country’s cutting-edge digital technologies into the bio industry to increase the overall efficiency within the industry and related research,” said Lee Jong-ho, minister of science and ICT. The minister added th

Coupang, the South Korean e-commerce giant, on Wednesday showcased the investments and innovations it made over the past decade at its Daegu fulfillment center, one of Asia's largest. The event was attended by US Ambassador Philip Goldberg and Korean government officials, including the deputy mayor of Daegu Metropolitan City and officials from the Science and ICT Ministry. Kang Han-seung, the representative director of Coupang, and its Chief Administrative Officer Harold Rogers also joined