The race to acquire South Korean food delivery platform Yogiyo has attracted retail giant Shinsegae, accommodation booking platform Yanolja and big private equity funds, according to industry sources on Wednesday. Yogiyo’s German operator Delivery Hero and sale adviser Morgan Stanley received preliminary bids Tuesday for a 100 percent stake in Yogiyo up for sale. According to the sources, around eight parties have joined the acquisition race, including Shinsegae and Yanolja. South Kor

COVID-19 self-test kits developed by local companies are available at convenience stores here, startubg Wednesday. GS Retail announced Wednesday that the company’s convenience store chain GS25 would begin the sale of COVID-19 self-test kits at around 2,000 locations nationwide, the South Korean retail company said. They products would be also available at the company’s grocery store chain GS Supermarket and health and beauty chain Lalavla, starting on Friday. There are two produ

The US International Trade Commission has lifted a 21-month ban on the sale of Daewoong Pharmaceutical’s botulinum toxin product Nabota, or Jeuveau, in the United States, according to an announcement from Medytox on Tuesday. The decision allows Evolus, a US partner of South Korea’s Daewoong, to resume sales of Nabota in the US, after a legal battle between Medytox and Daewoong over misappropriation of trade secrets. The dispute between the two Korean pharmas, Medytox and Daewoon

A total of 40 novel drugs were approved by Seoul‘s pharmaceutical authorities in 2020, but none were developed by South Korean companies, according to a survey released by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on Monday. According to the Korean drug safety agency, local companies failed to introduce novel drugs domestically for the second consecutive year. In 2018, there were two novel drugs developed by local pharmaceutical companies that received approvals from the agency. “Laun

South Korea‘s pharmaceutical giant Celltrion announced Monday that the company has received a conditional approval for its COVID-19 test kit DiaTrust from the country‘s drug safety agency. DiaTrust, developed jointly by Humasis and Celltrion, is an antigen test kit that can detect the most recent COVID-19 variants from the UK and Brazil. The test kit uses a sterile nasal swab which can identify specific antigens of COVID-19 present in specimens collected from the nasal cavity within

LG Chem is set to fill hundreds of positions in its advanced materials division as it prepares for an aggressive expansion into new business areas and markets, the company said Sunday. The company’s upcoming hiring period will be its most active since the division was established in 2019, it added. According to LG Chem, the company is seeking talent in all the business segments where it operates, from battery materials to postconsumer recycled plastics, organic light-emitting diodes a

LG U+ has set up a crane remote control system at Busan Port and aims to commercialize 5G network-based solutions for automated seaport infrastructure management, the company said Sunday. The yard cranes at Busan Port are controlled remotely by an operator in an office, using the control system developed by the South Korean telecommunications firm. The tall cranes, equipped with sensors and high-definition cameras, are designed to send live feeds to a control room via the 5G network. The so

Posco has pledged to increase its social contributions while embracing the emerging trend of environmental, social and corporate governance, or ESG, management around the globe, the company said Thursday. South Korea’s leading steelmaker in 2018 launched its management initiative called “corporate citizenship” and pledged to expand its support for the betterment of society. Celebrating the fourth year since the company started its support in a wide range of sectors, Posco h

South Koreans may be able to purchase COVID-19 self-test kits as early as next Monday, industry officials said Wednesday. Coming are two types of home test kits developed by local biotech firms SD Biosensor and Humasis. The test kits will be available at local pharmacies or via online channels, according to the companies. The rollout comes after the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety last week gave each of them conditional-use approval. The products have been in use in several countries in Eu

Local vaccine developer Genexine has signed a contract with an Indonesian pharmaceutical company to supply 10 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, the company said Tuesday. According to the firm, Indonesian pharmaceutical company PT Kalbe Farma will purchase 10 million doses of GX-19N, the vaccine candidate currently in the phase 2 clinical trial stage. Genexine will be provided with royalties based on sales of the vaccine, it added. Sale of the jabs would be possible only after

Celltrion has completed administration of an experimental COVID-19 antibody treatment to a total of 1,300 people participating in its phase 3 clinical trial, the company announced Monday. The final stage of human tests of the drug candidate, known as Regkirona or CT-P59, is being conducted in 13 countries, including Korea, the US, Spain and Romania, the firm added. The treatment has cleared an emergency use authorization in Korea in February. The Seoul-based drug developer, specializing in

South Korean livestock health management firm uLikeKorea announced the launch of an information and communication technology-based solution to detect symptoms of swine diseases, including African swine fever. Kim Hee-jin, CEO of uLikeKorea, claimed it is the world’s first and only such solution developed for pig farming. According to the firm’s press release, it uses a device that is inserted in a pig’s uterus to keep track of its activities, hormone levels and body temper

Sales of biosimilars developed by Samsung Bioepis in Europe reached $205.1 million in the first quarter this year, the South Korean drugmaker said Friday. Sales of Samsung Bioepis’ three major autoimmune biosimilars -- Benepali, Flixabi and Imraldi -- increased 3.9 percent on-quarter but decreased 6.3 percent on-year, the company said, citing an earnings report of its US partner Biogen released Thursday, local time. Samsung Bioepis is a joint venture between Biogen and Samsung Group&rs

Faced with a COVID-19 vaccine shortage, South Korea is taking the first steps to consider Russia’s Sputnik V. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said Thursday that it would collect clinical data on the Russian vaccine to study its efficacy and safety. The ministry has requested the help of the Foreign Ministry and its overseas missions for the collection of data from 12 countries where the vaccine has been rolled out, officials said. A Drug Ministry official, however, attempted to d

The Federation of Korean Industries said Tuesday that South Korea needs to consider reviewing related regulations to open up the gates for local practice of telemedicine-medical diagnosis. FKI Vice Chairman Kwon Tae-shin said now is the time to take deregulatory actions, given the public’s positive perception of telemedicine, formed after experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic. He made the remarks during a seminar held to share information and opinions on telemedicine trends in Seoul, Tue

SK Telecom announced Monday that the company has introduced a 5G-based disinfection robot at a Severance Hospital branch in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. It is the world’s first such hospital robot utilizing the next-generation telecommunication technology, the company added. The machine “Keemi” uses a real-time location system, through which it can find the location of missing patients and analyze patient density within the hospital. The robot comes with an artificial intel

South Korea, which is struggling to secure COVID-19 vaccines developed by foreign firms like Pfizer and Moderna, can’t expect local alternatives anytime soon, as Korean drugmakers are not making speedy progress as hoped in their vaccine development, industry sources said Sunday. Even firms that have reached the clinical trial stage are having difficulties in securing volunteers with the vaccination campaign underway, the sources said. South Korean drugmakers Genexine and Cellid are cu

Electronic component maker Samsung Electro-Mechanics has developed an ultrasmall, high-capacity multilayer ceramic capacitor, the company said Thursday. A multilayer ceramic capacitor regulates a current’s flow in a circuit, making it a core component within electric devices, such as smartphones, home appliances, and electronic vehicles.　 Samsung Electro-Mechanics’ new capacitor is 0.4 millimeter long and 0.2 mm wide. The capacitor also has a 1.0 microfarad capacity and 6.3 volta

South Korea will introduce measures to ensure the safety of imported kimchi, such as conducting onsite inspections at around 100 kimchi production facilities overseas by 2025, the Ministry of Food and Drug said Thursday. The move came after a video of a kimchi-processing plant in China went viral in South Korea for exposing its poor hygiene and sanitation conditions. In the clip, a naked man is seen swishing cabbages back and forth through a waist-deep pool of unidentifiable brownish liquid,

SK Holdings’ equity investment in Grab, the Southeast Asian equivalent to Uber, is receiving attention as the ride-hailing app prepares for an initial public offering on the tech-heavy US bourse Nasdaq. According to the investment-focused holdings firm of SK Group, the Singapore-based startup behind the ride-hailing and food delivery app is planning a floatation via a special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. Grab’s market value is estimated at around $39.6 billion after it