South Korea’s new President Moon Jae-in is expected to boost the country’s biopharmaceutical and health-related industries, which have continuously called for more government support and attention.There are high expectations that Moon, who assumed office Wednesday, will establish a new government body dedicated to centralized policymaking for the biopharma and health care sectors.South Korea’s new President Moon Jae-in (Yonhap)On the campaign trail, Moon pledged to create a “fourth industrial re

As South Korea prepares to hold its 19th presidential election Tuesday, the country’s major internet companies have set out to provide the public with accurate, timely and convenient information about the candidates and real-time voting updates. Naver, the operator of Korea’s most widely-accessed portal website, has a special section on its election page that will continuously update voting information as the results come in. The portal operator said it will display the information based on real

The Korea Herald is publishing a series of articles highlighting South Korea’s promising startups in the emerging sectors of digital health care and next-generation medical devices. This is the eighth installment. – Ed.Recent advances in artificial intelligence have begun to revolutionize the field of medicine and health care, as machines show potential to improve the diagnosis of illnesses and treatment planning.At the core of the movement is a form of high-level machine learning called deep le

The first-quarter earnings of Pfizer and US-based Merck & Co. appear to have been affected by sales of Celltrion’s Remsima, a biosimilar copy of Johnson & Johnson’s Remicade. Pfizer, which markets and sells Celltrion’s Remicade biosimilar in the US and other global markets, said in its earnings report for the January-March period Wednesday that worldwide sales of its biosimilars in the quarter came to $105 million. Of this amount, global sales of Remsima reached $78 million. Remsima is Celltrion

Wary of growing concerns over worsening air quality, South Korea’s internet giant Naver on Thursday introduced a new visual mapping service that tracks the movement of fine dust in Korea, Japan and China.　The new fine dust mapping service can be accessed by searching for fine dust levels on Naver via either PC or mobile device.(Naver)Previously, Naver had provided only numerical figures that showed the level of fine dust in different cities in Korea. The new feature visually displays the changes

South Korean biopharma company Celltrion, whose biosimilar copy of Johnson & Johnson’s Remicade hit the US market last year, is planning to seek regulatory approval for two additional biosimilars in the country by next month.　Celltrion said Tuesday that it plans to file Truxima and Herzuma -- referencing Roche’s lymphatic cancer drug Rituxan (rituximab) and breast cancer therapy Herceptin (trastuzumab), respectively -- to the US Food and Drug Administration by June. Celltrion’s headquarters in S

SMART LABELING -- A GS Supermarket employee uses a mobile manager program connected to LG CNS’ Electronic Shelf Label to digitally change the price labels for vegetables Tuesday. LG CNS has commercialized its ESL system, which displays prices on digital labels that can be altered to reflect special sales and promotions, at 100 GS Supermarket outlets nationwide. (LG CNS)

South Korea’s presidential candidates may differ in their campaign pledges on defense, labor and political reform, but they appear to have one common ground -- spurring growth through the “digital economy.” The digital economy, sometimes referred to as the “internet economy,” broadly refers to the economic activity that results from billions of everyday online connections among people, businesses, devices, data and processes, according to Deloitte.This new type of economy is backed by the growin

With the recent advances in artificial intelligence, Google has been working to apply a form of high-level AI computing known as deep learning to the field of medicine and health care.　　Though further developments are underway, Google said Thursday that it has successfully developed new deep learning algorithms that can detect and diagnose diabetic retinopathy, an eye disease which can lead to blindness, as well as locate breast cancer.　Lily Peng, product manager of the medical imaging team at G

Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis has been fined 55.1 billion won ($49 million) and given a six-month suspension of insurance coverage benefits for nine products in South Korea for bribing local doctors.Korea’s Ministry of Health and Welfare said Thursday that it has decided to lift insurance coverage for nine variations of two Novartis drugs -- Alzheimer’s drug Exelon and bone cancer therapy Zometa -- and impose administrative fines on 33 variations of 15 drugs.The headquarters of Swiss pharm

South Korean internet giant Naver said Thursday that its operating profit in the first quarter of this year rose 13.2 percent on-year to 290.8 billion won ($257 million), led by strong advertisement sales and heightened transactions on its mobile and online platform services.　Naver’s revenue also went up 15.5 percent on-year to 1.82 trillion won in the January-March period. Its net profits rose 27.8 percent on-year to 210.9 million won during the given period.The Naver headquarters in Pangyo, Gy

South Korea’s Celltrion said Thursday it has selected Japanese drugmaker Nippon Kayaku to handle the sales of its Truxima, a biosimilar copy of Roche’s lymphatic cancer drug Rituxan, on the Japanese market. 　Celltrion Healthcare, the marketing and sales subsidiary of Celltrion, and Nippon Kayaku have signed a partnership under which the Japanese drugmaker will sell Truxima in Japan.Celltrion’s headquarters in Songdo, Incheon (Park Hyun-koo/The Korea Herald)Rituxan, also known as Mabthera, achiev

South Korea’s Celltrion said Wednesday that it has won all of its patent infringement suits involving Roche’s blockbuster breast cancer drug Herceptin in Korea, paving the way for the launch of Herzuma, its biosimilar copy of Herceptin, in the country by the year’s end.Roche had sued Celltrion Pharm, which handles the marketing and distribution of Celltrion’s products in Korea, for infringing its main formulation patent for Herceptin in Korea in October 2013. The Swiss pharmaceutical giant had a

Nexon will continue to commit to developing new digital games that push the boundaries of established game genres despite the risks, as the company sees innovation as an underpinning component of its future competitiveness, its chief executive said Tuesday.“We’re doing a lot of experimentation with new games that are pushing current genres or creating entirely new genres outside of Korea,” Nexon CEO and President Owen Mahoney said during an interview with the local press at this year’s Nexon Dev

Former US Ambassador Samantha Power is writing a memoir about her transition from writing a Pulitzer Prize-winning condemnation of foreign policy to becoming a leading public advocate for the government. Dey Street Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishing, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that it had acquired Power's "The Education of an Idealist." A release date has not yet been determined. Former US Ambassador Samantha Power (AP-Yonhap)Before serving in the Obama administration, Power

   Chinese imports from North Korea fell 35 percent month-on-month in March,  according to official figures released Tuesday, after Beijing suspended coal purchases to punish its nuclear-armed neighbour for missile tests.   Total imports from the North by China -- Pyongyang's sole major diplomatic ally and chief trading partner -- stood at $114.56 million last month, down from 176.7 million in February, according to Chinese customs data.   Beijing on February 18 imposed a total halt on coal impo

South Korea said Tuesday it has decided to purchase two advanced early warning radars on incoming ballistic missiles as North Korea's threats have grown.The plan was approved at a regular meeting on arms procurement projects presided over by Defense Minister Han Min-koo, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Agency.It plans to import the radars in the project starting within this year. The headquarters of South Korea's Defense Acquisition Program Agency. (Yonhap)The South Korean military

Prosecutors on Tuesday questioned a former chairman of the state-run Korea Development Bank in connection with corruption allegations surrounding troubled Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co.Min Euoo-sung, who led the bank from 2008 to 2011, was grilled over allegations a former head of a local ad agency lobbied him to request the reappointment of Nam Sang-tae, ex-chief of Daewoo Shipbuilding. Nam headed the shipyard from 2006 to 2012.The head of the ad agency was indicted in September o

Samsung BioLogics, the contract drug manufacturing arm of South Korea’s Samsung Group, said Tuesday that its first quarter revenue this year grew 1.9 percent on-quarter to 107.6 billion won ($95.6 million) led by a rise in its product shipments.　 The Korean drug manufacturer raised 3.4 billion won in operating profit in the January-March period, swinging into the black from the previous quarter’s operating loss of 700 million won.  The Samsung BioLogics headquarters in Songdo, Incheon (Park Hyun

Philips Korea, the local branch of global health technology company Philips, said Tuesday that it was holding a CPR training session for all its employees as part of its efforts to raise public awareness of the life-saving procedure.　The Seoul-based company held the CPR training session for nearly 300 employees as part of Philips’ global efforts to help its employees better respond to sudden heart attacks.  (Philips Korea)Philips Korea employees will learn about the theory behind CPR, how to app