Since the approval of the combination therapy Daklinza-Sunvepra (Daksun therapy) to receive insurance benefits in April 2015, Korea has used Direct Acting Agent (DAA) therapy for chronic Hepatitis C patients in earnest.The DAA therapy has since been rapidly replacing the existing standard therapy of Pegeinterferon alfa + ribavirin (IFN+RBV), based on clinical trial results that demonstrated a
“I know that a difficult job lies ahead of me, but I plan on working with the three international neuro-oncology societies to host the sixth meeting in 2021 to take place in Korea.”So said Professor Hong Yong-kil홍용길 of the Catholic University of Korea Seoul St. Mary Hospital가톨릭대 서울성모병원 who has recently become the sixth president of the World Federation of Neuro-Oncology Societies.The feder
Microsoft, with their extensive experience in healthcare, has recently launched a cutting-edge initiative called Healthcare NeXT with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) to combine artificial intelligence, cloud technology, and research into one.Although the company is a relatively late entrant in healthcare cloud, Microsoft is catching up – and more – according to Callum Bir, d
The Korean Foundation for International Healthcare (KOFIH) said Friday it conferred the 9th WHO’s Dr Lee Jong-wook Memorial Prize for Public Health to Henry Reeve International Medical Brigade, a Cuban contingent of doctors conducting relief activities in overseas disasters.The Cuban Ministry of Health established Henry Reeve International Medical Brigade in 2005 to do good for people around t
It’s only natural a drugmaker that has developed a new innovative therapy goes all out to win its marketing approval and listing as the insurance-covered medication in major markets.That also explains why the U.S. pharmaceutical company Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD) is keenly interested in the Korean government’s process to include its new immunotherapeutic anti-cancer drug Keytruda (compound: pem
When the news spread six years ago that Gilead Sciences길리어드 would enter the Korean market, all eyes of the domestic pharmaceutical industry were on who would become the first CEO of Gilead Sciences Korea길리어드 한국지사.Gilead Sciences had developed big-hit drugs, such as chronic hepatitis B therapy Hepsera (sold by GSK Korea) and influenza treatment Tamiflu (marketed by Roche Korea), and added vario
An Italian doctor and his team are about to perform one of the most talked-about surgeries -- technically and ethically -- in December.In what will be the world’s first full-body transplant, Sergio Canavero and a multinational group of surgeons are to attach the body of a brain-dead donor to the head of a paralyzed patient to make the patient walk again. The brave patient is a Russian comp
China’s biopharmaceutical market, sized at larger than 130 trillion won ($113 billion), is about to change. The Chinese government has set up a plan to localize the production of 90 percent of original medicines whose patents expire by 2020 and begun to control the quality of generic drugs in earnest. Beijing is also actively expanding the separation of prescribing and dispensing drugs and has set
“Korea has changed itself from an aid-receiving country to an aid-giving one. This is unparalleled in the world. My dream is to see many countries like Korea emerge.”So said Jushua Sir, a professor at Graduate School of Public Health, Yonsei University. Professor Sir is a person with colorful careers as a doctor, a missionary, a teacher and an expert of overseas development assistance (ODA). E
A 2014 study commissioned by the National Assembly concluded that South Koreans could face natural extinction by 2750 if its birthrate remains unchanged at the current 1.19 children per woman, quoting the U.S. Brookings Institution.It is a small surprise then the government has come up with various measures, including maternity benefits and free childcare, to jack up the almost lowest fertilit
Many doctors work for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but that’s not the case for its South Korean equivalent, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS). Lee Won-sik, who became the director general of Pharmaceutical Safety Bureau in September 2016, is one of the rare doctors in MFDS.Lee says his experience treating patients as a physician is very helpful in his work at MFDS. Si
Korea is known for its high-tech advances, the rise of K-pop and luxurious skin care products, but what everyone doesn’t know is Korea’s forgotten generation. The nation has the worst senior poverty rate among developed countries, and the options for older adults are slim.According to Statistics Korea, Seoul citizens aged 60 or over had the highest suicide rates, with 50.3 seniors per popu
There was a time the world regarded India as a country where spirits govern materials. Not anymore. The South Asian country is one of the most rapidly growing economies on this globe, led by top-level professionals, including IT experts.India’s medical industry, too, is at least as advanced as Korea’s. Two things, however, makes the difference between the medical fields of the two countries –
Toward the end of last year, a new book came to stand at the center of conversations. Its title was “The Age of Class” written by Kim Jin-Young, director of Severance Hospital’s Center for Creative Medicine. The book contained stories about “gyeok,” the Korean word for class or dignity, wanted by the Korean society gripped by a sense of crisis after a series of events and incidents. That did not m
We all agree vaccines are one of the humankind’s scientific breakthroughs – saving people from an infectious disease by helping them acquire an active immunity to it.Some people, most notably U.S. President Donald Trump, have recently begun to challenge this time-tested truth based on irrational beliefs, however. They cite some ill effects of vaccination, such as autism, an allegation that has
Jo Dong-chan believes in following his passion. Jo acts as the go-to reporter in South Korea’s health and medical community. He served as a neurosurgeon during the Haiti earthquake in 2010 and broke the news on cases that hit the nation, such as the mystery lung-related disease. His on-the-spot reporting and medical expertise have had his colleagues compare him to Sanjay Gupta, the multiple Emmy A
Thinking back to my school days, I recall a few especially curious friends. Those friends who didn’t stop searching until they found answers to their questions, the ones who were a bit unique. Those are the people who stand out in my memory.Consultant Seo Young-Jin of Bain & Company was definitely one of those friends. Despite being brainwashed (?) from a young age into attending medical schoo
Not many people are aware that venture capital (VC) provides early support and investment to start-up companies that have a technological and competitive advantage. The entrepreneurs who personally identify these opportunities are called venture capitalists (VCs). For doctors who are typically expected to work in a hospital after completing medical school, this is all uncharted territory. But ther
When you step off the escalator that leads you to the front desk of Yonsei Severance Hospital, you can’t help but tilt your head back and admire the orientation and organization of architectural elements on the landscape through its sloping walls and state-of-the-art LED screens that blended in with the natural surroundings of their gardens.Even though it is the oldest western-style hospital i
AMC(also known as Seoul Asan Hospital) in Jamsil towered over me, gleaming in pearly white as I made my way through the endless corridors. Being the largest medical institution in Korea with a total of 2,700 beds and more than a thousand doctors, it’s easy to say that AMC can boast its major accomplishments over the years.Having performed 57,000 highly sophisticated surgeries per year, Asan Me