The National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) started the “14th Training Course on Social Health Insurance” at the Sheraton Seoul Palace Gangnam Hotel on Tuesday.Forty-two healthcare and health insurance policy officials from 24 countries representing Asia, Africa, South America, the Middle East and Oceania are participating in the 10-day educational program.The training course started in 2
The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) lifted a decade-old requirement for HIV testing for foreign language teachers on Saturday, yielding to growing criticism over its discriminatory nature.Under the revised rules that took effect July 3, those who come to Korea with an E-2 visa, a permit for teaching English in Korea, has only to take a mandatory test for drugs and syphilis, the MOJ said.For the
Professor Choi Yong-deuk of the Severance Hospital세브란스병원 has conducted 3,000 urological surgeries using robots for the first time in Asia, the hospital announced Friday.Choi performed his first robot operation in August 2005, marked the 1,000th surgery in May 2012, and added 2,000 more cases over the past five years to become an authority on robotic urological surgery.Prostate cancer surge
The Proton Therapy Center within Samsung Medical Center(SMC)’s Cancer Hospital has treated 500 patients since it began operation a year ago, and the number of treatments has also exceeded 9,000 cases, SMC said Friday.According to SMC삼성서울병원, proton therapy is mainly used for liver cancer, head and neck cancer, brain tumor, and lung cancer. Proton therapy is selectively treating the tumor site w
A mother has sued McDonald’s Korea, claiming her four-year-old daughter is diagnosed with the “hamburger disease” after eating a burger with an undercooked patty.“The 4-year-old had no health problems but caught hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) after eating a McDonald’s hamburger,” lawyer Hwang Da-yeon said at a news conference in front of the Seoul District Prosecutors Office Wednesday. “This
Boryung Pharmaceuticals said Tuesday it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Kiara Health to provide Kanarb and Kanarb Plus (compound: fimasartan), the first high blood pressure drug developed in Korea, to African nations.The two companies also agreed on the licensing out of Besto, a treatment for gastric ulcers, during a signing ceremony at Sandton Sun Hotel, Johannesburg.The con
Professor Kim Hyun-koo of Korea University Guro Hospital has succeeded in operating a lung cancer patient using only robotic catheter surgery for the first time in Korea, the hospital said Wednesday.The existing lung cancer robotic technique has advantages such as smaller incision site and less postoperative pain and faster recovery rate during the surgical procedure. Resection and suture of c
YuYu Pharma’s treatment for osteoporosis, Maxmarvil, can help to prevent osteoporotic fracture and improve bone mineral density (BMD) of the lumbar spine and hip by 5 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively, the company said Wednesday.YuYu유유제약 put Maxmarvil to market in 2005 as the world’s first new incrementally modified drug for osteoporosis. It contains only half dose (5mg) of alendronate and
Samsung BioLogics and Sun Pharma of India have signed a contract for the production of drugs with the minimum purchase volume worth $55 million (63 billion won), the Korean company said Tuesday.Sun Pharma is India’s largest and the world’s fourth-largest producer of synthetic medicines. It sells high-quality medicines to more than 150 countries through 42 production facilities on six continen
Roche Korea said Monday that its anti-PD-L1 immunotherapy anticancer drug Tecentriq won the approval of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in May for the indications for non-small cell lung cancer.Tecentriq (ingredient name: atezolizumab) is administered intravenously at a dose of 1,200 mg every three weeks to patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer, wh
Korea Pfizer Pharmaceutical (CEO Oh Dong-wook) said Monday the health insurance benefit standard for its oral rheumatoid arthritis target treatment gel, Xeljanz, (ingredient: tofacitinib citrate) would expand from July 1.The expanded benefits will be applied to patients treated with more than two kinds of disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) for more than six months (more than three
Shire Korea has improved the function of its Hemophilia B treatment, Rixubis, in ways to enhance the convenience of users, the company said Monday.Rixubis used to be stored at 2-8 degrees Celsius, but the improved version can be kept at room temperature (2-30 ℃). The usage period also extended from 24 months to 36 months from the date of manufacture.The company has requested the Minist
Siemens Healthcare Korea has appointed Lee Myung-gyun이명균 as its new president, the company said Monday.Lee joined Siemens in 2002 as the president of Siemens Communications in Korea after working at LG Information & Communications, HP Korea, and Cisco Systems Korea.He became the president of Nokia Siemens Networks Korea in 2007 and had also been leading Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics D
“We need to provide a gap in quality systems and quality management for vaccine and pharmaceutical companies in Korea by comparing them with U.S. global companies.”Ted Yi, director of Janssen Korea of Johnson and Johnson, made the remark in his presentation on the last day of the “Global Bio Conference 2017 (GBC 2017)” at Seoul Intercontinental Seoul COEX Hotel in southern Seoul Friday.“Ko
The International Vaccine Institute (IVI) and Korea Human Resource Development Institute of Health and Welfare (KOHI, President: Choi Young-hyun) have signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate in global education.The two organizations exchanged the MOU to expand programs for nurturing professional human resources in health, healthcare, and vaccine, and to increase efficiency in the con
Korea BMS Pharma (CEO: Park Hye-sun) presented their research of genotype 1b hepatitis C at “The Liver Week 2017,” an international conference held at the Grand Hyatt, Incheon, from June 22-24.The real-life data for Koreans in the multicenter-based treatment regimen is based on the results of a total of 591 genotype 1b hepatitis C patients treated at eight CMC hospitals.The results sho
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted Celltrion’s application to win the approval for its biopharmaceutical product for the treatment of blood cancer and rheumatoid arthritis, an antibody biosimilar Truxima (ingredient name: rituximab).In April, Celltrion announced it had submitted to FDA documents related to Truxima’s approval concerning all its indications, including rheum
Michael Goettler, the global president of rare disease business at Pfizer, talked about corporate social responsibility for insurance on rare and intractable disease treatments during a media event in Myeongdong, central Seoul, last Thursday.“It’s essential for us that we can set the right price point for its availability, to work with the government together so we can invest in research and t
DuchemBio Co. (CEO: Kim Jong-woo), the first Korean company that produced dementia diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals "Neuraceq,” has teamed up with U.S. biotechnology firm Accera to introduce a treatment for the Alzheimer’s disease to the nation.The Colorado-based Accera, a private company supported by international consumer brand giant Nestle SA, has specialized in degenerative brain diseases s
Medytox Inc. (CEO Jung Hyun-ho), Korea's largest maker of botulinum toxin, held a workshop by inviting the members of the Philippine Dermatology Society (PDS) last Thursday and Friday, the company said Tuesday.The event was part of Medytox’s overseas exchange programs aimed to promote its superior technology and products, it said.Twenty-seven members of the PDS and other experts attended t