We’ve all been there. Waiting to binge watch fun videos on YouTube, we’ve zoned out while enduring a painful 15-second commercial and clicked the “skip ad” button as soon as it appeared.　What does this say about today’s digital consumers? It means a lot of people love to watch online videos that are interesting or relevant but they will shut off videos they dislike or have no interest in – which means most corporate advertisements on the web.　Eyeing the rise of online video and relevant consumpt

South Korean internet giant Naver said Tuesday that its research and development subsidiary Naver Labs will speed up efforts to develop new technologies for the autonomous vehicles and car sharing businesses.　Naver Labs — which became an independent company from Naver in early January — has included “car components manufacturing and service” as well as “car sharing” to its articles of association which outlines the new firm’s purpose and duties, Naver said.The Naver headquarters in Pangyo (Naver

The hit augmented reality mobile game “Pokemon Go” enjoyed a successful first week in South Korea, overstepping the sub-zero temperatures and initial worries that the game had lost steam due to its belated launch here.The app has secured around 6.98 million users and 7.58 downloads in Korea as of Monday, according to data compiled by local mobile app marketing intelligence firm WiseApp. The game was released here on Jan. 24. (Niantic)The figures include only Android-based smartphone users and no

The European Medicines Agency has granted official sales approval to a new Lantus biosimilar developed by US-based Merck Sharp & Dohme with partial funding from Samsung Bioepis.　The European drug regulator approved MSD’s Lusduna -- a biosimilar drug referencing Lantus (insulin glargine), an insulin-based diabetes treatment originally developed by Sanofi -- on Jan. 4. It is the second Lantus biosimilar to be approved by the EMA after Eli Lilly’s Basaglar, another biosimilar referencing Sanofi’s t

The number of South Koreans “effectively unemployed” topped 4.5 million for the first time in 2016, according to new data released by Statistics Korea on Monday.　According to the state-run statistics agency, the number of “effectively unemployed” Koreans -- including those without a job, prospective job seekers and people who work less than 18 hours a week -- surpassed 4.54 million last year.  (123RF)That number is around 4.5 times higher than the number of “officially unemployed” Koreans formal

South Korea’s main biotechnology business body is looking to work in conjunction with the government to foster at least 10 local biotech companies with revenue of more than 100 billion won ($85.03 million) in 2017.　“Today, biotechnology is all about speed,” said Korea Biotechnology Industry Organization President Seo Jeong-sun during a New Year’s biotech industry meeting hosted by the government Friday.“Currently, there are only 302 biotech companies which have reached the break-even point, whic

The US Food and Drug Administration has released a draft guideline detailing what drug companies must do to obtain “interchangeability” designation for their lower-cost biosimilars referencing biologic drugs.　The draft guidance, announced on Jan. 17, presents a clearer, albeit stringent, roadmap for drugmakers seeking to challenge sales of the world’s topselling biologics whose patents have expired, with cheaper alternative biosimilar drugs.　For a biosimilar to be judged “interchangeable” with i

The South Korean government said Tuesday that it would invest 98.2 billion won ($82.76 million) in improving its evaluation guidelines for new biopharmaceutical products over the next 10 years. The plans came as part of the latest agenda set by a special pan-government biotechnology committee led by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning.The body was established in March 2016 to streamline all policymaking related to the country’s fast-growing biotech business and to act as a “control

Line, the mobile messenger established by South Korean internet giant Naver, was the second-most profitable app in the world in 2016, a new year-end report from Sensor Tower showed Monday.According to the mobile app marketing intelligence firm, global music streaming app Spotify generated the highest revenue in the nongame app category for the Apple App Store and the Google Play app store combined.Line came in second, followed by US-based movie and television show streaming service Netflix, onli

The UK High Court of Justice will commence Monday its trial on Samsung Bioepis and Biogen’s lawsuit against AbbVie and its patents for its top-selling rheumatoid arthritis drug Humira, according to official court documents obtained by The Korea Herald.　Japanese drugmaker Fujifilm Kyowa Kirin Biologics (FKB) will also be taking on AbbVie in the same trial, as a claimant siding with Samsung Bioepis and Biogen.　According to a ruling by Justice Henry Carr last month, which was made available on the

The South Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said Friday that it will recall 10 wet wipe products manufactured by Yuhan-Kimberly, as they contain excessive methanol. “We have confirmed that some of Yuhan-Kimberly’s wet wipes were unintentionally manufactured to contain between 0.003 to 0.004 percent methanol, which exceeds the permitted 0.002 percent,” the ministry said.“As a result, we are ordering a sales freeze and recall of 10 of Yuhan-Kimberly’s wet wipe products.”Of the 10 affected pr

Samsung BioLogics is currently in talks over new supply deals with 15 global pharmaceutical companies, said the CEO of Samsung Group’s contract drug manufacturing unit during the 35th JPMorgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco.　“Thanks to its exclusive plant construction and operation capabilities, Samsung BioLogics has already sealed production deals worth $2.9 billion with six global pharmaceutical companies to produce nine products,” Kim Tae-han said during a presentation delivered Tuesd

South Korea’s leading mobile carrier SK Telecom said Tuesday it has agreed to collaborate with leading US-based graphic chip maker Nvidia for the development of new platform technologies for autonomous vehicles.“We will merge Nvidia’s autonomous driving technology with SK Telecom’s ‘T Map’ navigation program and SK C&C’s cloud computing technology to develop our own self-driving platform technology,” a SKT spokesperson told The Korea Herald.The SKT-Nvidia partnership was first publicized by SKT’

South Korean biopharmaceuticals company SK Chemicals said Tuesday that a hemophilia treatment it licensed out to its partner CSL Ltd. has been approved for sale in Europe, marking another major market entry breakthrough.The European Medicines Agency, Europe’s drug regulator, granted marketing and sales approval for Afstyla, a biologic drug for hemophilia A, to CSL Behring, a subsidiary of CSL Ltd.Afstyla, or NBO601 (SK Chemicals)Afstyla was originated by SK Chemicals and licensed out to Australi

South Korean mobile carrier KT is out to target a niche market of small companies looking for an affordable network security system with a new network protection device for computers called the “Wiz Stick.”　Priced at just 90,000 won ($75), KT’s Wiz Stick is a portable, multifunctional security device offering comprehensive network protection capabilities as well as “security token” technology used to authenticate a person’s identity online.Designed for application to a single computer, the Wiz S

South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety is looking to push forth this year a set of new regulations governing the safety of food and drug imports, the medical use and distribution of sedative drugs and compensation for side effects caused by pharmaceutical products.The ministry said that it officially reported the details of its 2017 agenda to Prime Minister and acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn at Sejong City on Monday.In terms of imported foods and pharmaceutical products, the ministry wil

LG Electronics’ newly-appointed CEO Jo Seong-jin said Sunday that the South Korean electronics maker will finalize its decision on setting up its first home appliance manufacturing plant in the US within the first half of this year.　“We’ve been considering the possibility of building a new plant in the US for a long time,” Jo said during a press conference at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.“The company expects to reach a final decision on this issue within the early half of this year

In search of new partnerships, foreign investment and promotional opportunities, South Korea’s top biopharmaceutical companies will partake in the 35th J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, which kicks off Monday in San Francisco.　The annual four-day event is the world’s largest and oldest health care symposium. It brings together the world's leading pharmaceutical companies and investors to discuss the latest industry trends and seek out new drug candidates and technologies.(123RF)In Korea, the co

South Korean pharmaceutical companies are looking to cash in on the growing popularity of “aesthetic injections” triggered by revelations that they were regularly used by President Park Geun-hye who is currently facing her impeachment trial.According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, a total of eight “nutrient injections” were granted sales approval over the course of three days from Monday to Wednesday. This makes up around 44 percent of the 18 pharmaceutical products approved by the min

South Korea’s leading chemicals maker LG Chem is out to boost its newly merged pharmaceutical unit LG Life Sciences, with aims to drive up its competitiveness in the global red biotechnology, or medical biotech, sector.LG Chem Vice Chairman and CEO Park Jin-soo visited LG Life Sciences’ production plant in Iksan, North Jeolla Province on Thursday, marking his first official on-site visit for 2017.The plant produces LG Life Sciences’ flagship pharmaceutical products including “Factive,” a next-ge