Samsung Group’s leader Lee Jae-yong will have to pay a 70 million won ($59,200) fine for illegal use of propofol, an anesthetic medication, judicial sources said Wednesday. The fine was finalized as both prosecutors and the defendant have not filed an appeal by Tuesday, the last day of the seven-day window to appeal the court order. The Seoul Central District Court last week ordered Lee to pay the fine and an additional forfeiture of 17 million won for violating the Narcotics Control Act

GC Pharma announced Tuesday that the European Medicines Agency has granted orphan drug designation to its Hunterase ICV, a novel treatment for mucopolysaccharidosis type II, also known as the Hunter syndrome. The designation brings a variety of significant advantages under the EMA’s effort to encourage the development of drugs to treat rare diseases or conditions. GC Pharma said the company will be able to speed up regulatory procedures to market Hunterase ICV in Europe. Hunterase ICV

South Korea’s autonomous driving startup 42dot said Tuesday that it has raised 104 billion won ($88.5 million) in a series A funding. That raised the total investment the firm has secured to date to 153 billion won, the company added. The investors include Hyundai Motor, Shinhan Financial Group, Lotte Rental, Lotte Ventures and several local venture capital firms. 42dot plans to use the funding to accelerate its autonomous driving technologies and beef up human resources. The start

GeneOne Life Science’s investigational oral drug for COVID-19 has received regulatory approvals from the European Medicines Agency and Bulgaria to conduct a phase 2 clinical trial in Bulgaria, the Korean biotech firm said Monday. The Balkan nation is among the five regions where GeneOne Life Science plans to conduct phase 2 studies of GLS-1027. It is also the last of the five to give the company a go-ahead. The four others are the US, South Korea, Puerto Rico and North Macedonia. Gene

South Korean drugmakers are at a crossroads on whether or not to continue developing COVID-19 treatments, as vaccination rates rise across the world and the first drug from global pharmaceutical Merck is set to debut soon. Some have already given up. Merck’s recent decision to give away patents related to molnupiravir, which would become the world’s first COVID-19 pill, for developing countries to produce generic drugs, could prompt latecomers to drop out of the race, industry sou

SK Telecom’s nontelecom split-off SK Square will officially launch on Monday, with a focus on semiconductor and new tech businesses, SK Telecom, the world’s largest telecommunication company said Sunday. The split-off will allow the SK Group company to better respond to changing dynamics in the chip sector through strategic investments, which were partly limited under the fair trade law here. Under the restructuring, the first since SKT Telecom was founded in 1984, SK Square will

The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency said Thursday that it will take innovative products of small local companies to next year’s CES, the world’s largest tech show held annually in Las Vegas. For the Korean pavilion at the CES 2022, some 210 companies and 13 institutions will travel to the US, according to Kotra. Among them, some 14 local companies had a chance to showcase their latest products at Korea Electronics Show 2021, underway at Coex in southern Seoul, from Tuesda

Kolmar Korea, a cosmetics and health care company based in Seoul, has made a strategic investment in a beauty platform operator in a bid to target Millennial and Generation Z consumers in the local beauty market. According to its announcement on Wednesday, the company purchased an 11 percent stake in Pawcompany. Established in 2003, Pawcompany operates online beauty community Powder Room. The platform currently has 3.7 million members and has held marketing projects with 5,400 beauty firms t

South Korean biotech firm Genencell said Wednesday that the company received approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety for mid- and late-stage trials of its COVID-19 treatment candidate ES16001. ES16001 is an oral COVID-19 drug candidate made with natural ingredients extracted from the leaves of Elaeocarpus sylvestris native to Korea. Genencell has developed the treatment candidate in collaboration with the College of Life Sciences at Kyung Hee University. Genencell currently plans

Digital transformation is accelerating in a wide range of sectors, but it is unclear what it actually means and what it should entail. Everybody seems to have their own definition of it, and to be conducting their own experiments. CJ Group Chief Digital Officer and CJ OliveNetworks CEO Cha In-hyok, noting his company as among those accumulating trials and experiments, shared the story of how he took the retail-to-entertainment conglomerate on its digital journey. Speaking at the Korea Herald

Netflix’s global success with “Squid Game” is providing the perfect ground for South Korea to push for legal measures that would make foreign streaming giants stop “free riding” on internet networks here. During the recently concluded National Assembly audit, parliamentarians from both sides of the aisle forged a united front on the issue, pressuring ranking government officials to do something to make Netflix pay. Science Minister Lim Hye-sook said foreign plat

South Korean pharmaceutical giant Celltrion has started a phase 1 clinical trial of an inhalable form of COVID-19 treatment Regkirona in Australia, according to industry sources Friday. The sources said Celltrion’s US-based partner, Inhalon Biopharma, started administering the drug this month, following a regulatory approval from Australian authorities in August. In the first-stage study, 24 volunteers will be given a nebulized form of Regkirona, which can be inhaled through a mouthpiece

South Korea’s first homegrown satellite launch vehicle has failed to put its payload into the targeted orbit after what appeared to be a successful liftoff, the government said Thursday. The satellite launcher, dubbed the Nuri, or Korean Space Launch Vehicle-II, lifted off from the Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Jeolla Province, Thursday at 5 p.m. According to the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, it successfully traveled into a low orbit 700 kilometers above the Earth. The liqui

Nuri, South Korea’s first domestically made satellite launch vehicle, lifted off from the Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Jeolla Province, at 5 p.m. Thursday. The launch vehicle, weighing 200 metric tons, is now on its maiden flight to put a 1.5-ton dummy into low orbit some 600-800 kilometers above the Earth. Korea Aerospace Research Institute says it will know if the launch is a success around 30 minutes after liftoff. Designed and built entirely using Korean technology and

South Korea’s first domestically developed satellite launch vehicle has been moved to the launch pad for liftoff as scheduled on Thursday, the Ministry of Science and ICT said Wednesday. As favorable weather is forecast for Thursday, the launch will go on as scheduled at the Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Jeolla Province, the ministry added. The three-stage liquid fuel rocket, also known as Korean Space Launch Vehicle II or Nuri, will blast off at 4 p.m., with the moment to be live

South Korea’s smartphone makers and subscription service providers are expected to face increasing competition from Google, as the tech giant is set to introduce a subscription-based bundle that includes a phone and various Google services, to lock more users into its ecosystem. According to industry sources Monday, Google is likely to launch the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro smartphones in the US on Tuesday, local time. It is also set to unveil a new subscription service, Pixel Pass, which bu

South Korea will test its first domestically-developed satellite launch vehicle this week, which, if successful, will mark a major step forward in the country’s space program. The three-stage liquid fuel rocket, also known as Korean Space Launch Vehicle II or the Nuri, will lift off at 4 p.m. on Thursday from the Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Jeolla Province, carrying a 1.5-ton dummy payload. If all things go well, the payload will enter into low orbit 600 to 800 kilometers above

South Korea’s car production in the third quarter this year dropped, marking the lowest level since the 2008 global financial crisis, according to a local industry report, Sunday. According to Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association’s report, the combined number of automobiles domestically manufactured during the July-September period reached 761,975, down 20.9 percent on-year. The figure was the lowest since 2008, when local carmakers’ production reached 760,121 during

Ray Winkler, design director of Stufish Entertainment Architects, and British architect Amanda Jane Levete on Thursday shared their visions on what changes the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the field of architecture and what architects can do in the post-pandemic era at the Herald Design Forum 2021. Winkler showed a glimpse into how architecture can adapt accordingly with the changes brought by the pandemic, while Levete showed what values architecture should continue to pursue. “Tec

Emerging from the darkest days of the pandemic, many countries, including South Korea, are now talking about “life with COVID-19.” It is against this backdrop that the Herald Design Forum brought together some of the world’s most renowned designers, architects and artists with the aptly themed title of “What comes after.” “Mankind is now in its way into the post-COVID-19 era. Things will greatly change and the field of design is not an exception. The latest