LG Electronics said Tuesday that it will back a project by the International Vaccine Institute to provide free cholera vaccinations for some 40,000 people in Ethiopia for three years starting in 2021. LG Electronics and IVI will also establish a disease monitoring system in the region. “Although COVID-19 has taken attention away from cholera, it still remains a disease that takes away many lives across the globe,” said Jerome Kim, director general of IVI. “Together with LG

Industry Nov. 24, 2020

Dawoong Pharmaceutical said Monday that it had finished recruiting volunteers for a phase 2 clinical trial in hopes of repurposing its Foistar tablets as the “Tamiflu of COVID-19.” Daewoong said it anticipates the official use of Foistar as a preliminary COVID-19 drug to begin in January 2021. Foistar, a trade name for camostat, helps prevent the spike on SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, from docking onto human cells, inhibiting the virus from multiplying within the bo

Industry Nov. 23, 2020

SkyLabs and Chong Kun Dang are initiating sales of ring-type heart monitoring device CART-I for the mass market starting December, SkyLabs announced Monday. Chong Kun Dang has paid SkyLabs 2.5 billion won ($2.2 million) to SkyLabs for the rights to business-to-consumer sales of the CART-I cardio tracker in Korea. Chong Kun Dang will also have priority negotiation rights for exports to Japan, China, India and the Middle East. In turn, it will provide SkyLabs with a base for further technology

Industry Nov. 23, 2020

Yuhan Corp. made a regulatory filing Monday saying that the company is to receive $65 million in milestone payment from Janssen Biotech. This is roughly 4.3 percent of Yuhan’s total consolidated equity capital, which as of Monday stands at 1.65 trillion won ($1.48 billion) -- strengthening the company’s financial soundness.　 Janssen, a Johnson & Johnson company, is researching the effects of the combined use of its bispecific antibody amivantamab and Yuhan’s third-generat

Industry Nov. 23, 2020

AstraZeneca and Oxford University’s co-developed COVID-19 vaccine AZD1222 has shown immune response in older adults enrolled in a phase 2 clinical trial of the drug. Phase 3 clinical trial results are anticipated to be released around Christmas, the researchers said Friday. SK Bioscience, the Korean vaccine producer who in July signed with AstraZeneca to manufacture its COVID-19 vaccine, confirmed with The Korea Herald on Friday that manufacturing has been going without a glitch. AZD

Industry Nov. 20, 2020

The US’ International Trade Commission on Friday once again delayed its final ruling on a trade secret suit between Korean companies Medytox and Daewoong involving a botulinum toxin strain. The ITC did not elaborate on the reason for the postponement, but the agency‘s website indicates that the whole organization is teleworking since March this year due to COVID-19, suggesting that the pandemic may have interfered with its regular workflow. This is the second time the ITC has postp

Industry Nov. 20, 2020

The Korea Gas Corporation said Thursday that it had adopted information and communications technology to improve its workflow and ensure a safer gas supply. Kogas is using a “smart mobile system” that enables tighter communication between the head office and its operation sites. The new system increases workflow efficiency by repackaging the on-site operation as data, which is then relayed and monitored in real time. Furthermore, to provide a reliable public service and a continuo

Industry Nov. 19, 2020

With people paying closer attention to their personal hygiene amid the global pandemic, various products claiming to eradicate unwanted germs have hit market shelves. Some of these products contain liquid chlorine dioxide, an oxygen-based sterilizer that removes germs, virus, fungus and odor. The World Health Organization has approved the use of chlorine dioxide as a disinfectant. Worldwide, over 1.8 million kilograms of chlorine dioxide is used on a daily basis as an antimicrobial agent for

Industry Nov. 19, 2020

South Korea’s newfound focus on the bio industry is only anticipated to further concentrate on the heel of announcements made Wednesday by the nation’s leading biologics companies that they will invest hundreds of billions of won to building additional plants in the bio cluster city of Songdo, Incheon. Samsung Biologics will pour 1.7 trillion won ($1.54 billion) into its new Plant 4, and Celltrion 500 billion won to its Global Life Science Research Lab and Plant 3. The Government al

Industry Nov. 18, 2020

While the development of COVID-19 vaccines makes the need to store vaccines at low temperatures increasingly urgent, South Korea is proving to be less than prepared. The new vaccines from US companies Pfizer and Moderna are based on messenger RNA (mRNA), and as a result, need to be stored at low temperatures -- minus 70 degrees Celsius for Pfizer’s and minus 20 degrees Celsius for Moderna’s.  When the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and Korea Disease Control and Prevention A

Industry Nov. 18, 2020

  진행자: 임정요, Kevin Lee Selzer 1. Korean flag carriers eye tie-up as policy lender backs W1.8tr deal [1] South Korea’s two flag carriers Korean Air Lines and Asiana Airlines are anticipating a tie-up, as the nation’s policy lender Korea Development Bank vowed to finance the 1.8 trillion won ($1.62 billion) megadeal. *tie-up: 합병 *finance: 재정지원하다 [2] Announcing a plan to help Korean Air Lines acquire a majority stake in its longtime rival, KDB said Monday that the merger is

Podcast Nov. 18, 2020

Samsung Biologics said Tuesday that it had successfully delivered the first batch of Eli Lilly’s COVID-19 antibody treatment, just five months after the two forged a contract manufacturing deal. “We are very pleased to deliver this product to our client Lilly in record breaking speed to aid in the war against the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Dr. Kim Tae-han, CEO of Samsung Biologics. “Thanks to Lilly’s ongoing scientific efforts, patients suffering from this devastat

Industry Nov. 17, 2020

Samsung Electronics sold more than 1 million dishwashers globally this year, the company said Monday. The record stands in accumulated figure as of the second week of November. Samsung credited the dishwasher sales growth to an expanded line of products and technological features that helped them stand out in South Korea, North America and European markets. In Korea, the newly launched “bespoke” dishwasher line helped quadruple third quarter sales volume on-year. The bespoke washer

Industry Nov. 16, 2020

Sartorius, a German life sciences company with 170 years of history, announced Thursday it will invest $100 million in South Korea’s bio cluster of Songdo in Incheon to build a manufacturing facility for biologics plant parts. Sartorius’ decision is largely attributable to Korean bio companies: Samsung Biologics and Celltrion. Samsung Biologics and Celltrion have been Sartorius’ clients for a number of years, and their growing roles in the bio industry were a factor Sartoriu

Industry Nov. 12, 2020

LIG Nex1 introduced a remote management system for maritime vessels at the 2020 Korea Ocean Expo held Wednesday at Songdo Convensia in Incheon. According to LIG Nex1, the new system will enable trained experts to monitor and maintain a vessel in a quick and effective real-time manner, even when the ship is out operating at sea, by incorporating elements of the internet of things, prognostics and health management and augmented reality technologies. LIG Nex1 explained that internet of things se

Industry Nov. 12, 2020