A recent survey found that a majority of doctors specializing in liver diseases agree that Korea’s national health check should include hepatitis C immunity tests.The government is now conducting a pilot project to prevent hepatitis C in only 35 cities and provinces where the liver disease’s prevalence rate is high. The Korean Association for the Study of the Liver surveyed 119 physicians
Patients with rare EGFR exon 20 mutation, accounting for about 10 percent of non-small-cell lung cancer patients, might get their disease treated with a new therapy, a study showed Tuesday. EGFR, or epidermal growth factor receptor, is a transmembrane protein. Mutations affecting EGFR expression could lead to cancer.Dr. John Heymach, a professor at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Ce
A quarter of drugs, which have received fast-track marketing licenses for the reason of urgent supply since 2010, showed no records of production or imports at all, a lawmaker said Tuesday.In a parliamentary audit of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, Rep. Kim Sang-hoon of the opposition Liberty Party Korea said 12 drugs out of the total 48, which received approvals on condition of phase-3
TissueGene, the U.S.-based biopharmaceutical firm held mostly by Korea’s Kolon Group, said it would tap the U.S. market in earnest by 2023 with its new cell gene therapy Invossa for osteoarthritis.The statement came as the company plans to go public on the tech-heavy Kosdaq in November.Lee Bum-sup, CEO and director of TissueGene, said Invossa has sufficient competitiveness to become succes
The Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association on Friday urged its member companies to thoroughly prepare for a revised law that requires drug makers to label all ingredients from Dec. 3.Under the new drug labeling law, manufacturers and importers of medicines are obliged to mark all the names of the ingredients, the quantity of the active ingredient and preservative on the
Two orphan drugs, Dapsone and Mexiletine, which have been in supply shortage despite their status as essential drugs, have finally found their manufacturers in consignment arrangements.The Korea Orphan & Essential Drug Center said Thursday that it had concluded agreements with Tai Guk Pharm and Hankook Korus Pharm to have them manufacture Dapsone and Mexiletine, respectively.Dapsone is an
South Korea’s Boryung Pharmaceutical said it would sell its antihypertensive combination drugs Dukarb(ingredient: fimasartan/amlodipine) and Tuvero(ingredient: fimasartan/rosuvastatin) in Southeast Asian countries, following the sale of Kanarb (ingredient: fimasartan).The company said in a public filing on Oct. 10 that it concluded an exclusive deal with Zanovex, distributor of multinational p
Samsung Bioepis, which recently terminated its biosimilar sales deal with the Korean unit of global drug maker MSD, chose Yuhan Corp. as a new marketing partner.Yuhan유한양행 said Wednesday that it had concluded an exclusive license deal with Samsung Bioepis삼성바이오에피스 to sell and distribute two biosimilars, Renflexis (SB2) and Brenzys (SB4) – copy versions of Johnson & Johnson’s Remicade and Amgen’s
The Act on Prohibiting Improper Solicitation and Graft has brought about enormous changes on the Korean society, restricting the treatment of meals to 30,000 won ($26), gifts to 50,000 won and cash donations to 100,000 won. How has the act, called the “Kim Young-ran law” after its drafter, changed the pharmaceutical industry in the past year, then?“The marketing people have adopted faster than
Korean combination drugs for hypertension, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia, and nine incrementally modified drugs that changed chronic hepatitis B treatment Viread’s primary substance will get insurance benefits from next month, industry sources said Wednesday. Ildong Pharmaceutical일동제약’s hypertension drug Twotops Plus (compound: telmisartan/amlodipine/hydrochlorothiazide) got listed on registere
The approval conditions of 72 combined drugs of atorvastatin and amlodipine besylate will add the case of immunity auxiliary necrotid muscle disease, an autoimmune muscle disease, related to the use of the statin.A warning that bans the combined use of fusidate and atorvastatin will also be added.The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS)식품의약품안전처 Thursday ordered the revision of the a
Chong Kun Dang Pharmaceutical and Daewoong Pharm are continuing war of nerves over the health authorities’ selection of reference listed drugs (RLD) for Gliatilin (ingredient: choline alfoscerate), a cognition-enhancing therapy developed by Italfarmaco.The Administrative Court recently ruled in favor of Chong Kun Dang종근당, which claimed that the Central Administrative Appeals Commission had wro
Amid the controversy caused by MSD Korea’s alleged decision to cease promotional activities for biosimilar products made by Samsung Bioepis, the latter has won the domestic approval of Humira’s (compound: adalimumab) biosimilar.The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS)식약처 Wednesday said it approved Hadlima prefilled syringe inj. of Samsung Bioepis삼성바이오에피스. The company also made a similar
Has the big data at Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service (HIRA) influenced the development of the new reflux esophagitis therapy CJ-12420 by CJ Healthcare?The answer is “yes,” according to Bae Soo-in배수인, an executive director at HIRA심평원.Bae proposed to make the most of the healthcare big data, and cited CJ-12420 as its successful example, in a policy report titled the “Use of b
The domestic pharmaceutical companies’ plans to release the salt-altering products of chronic hepatitis B therapy Viread, whose annual prescription reaches about 150 billion won ($132 million), have hit a snag. Some of them voluntarily reduced the prices of drugs scheduled for release in October, but their registered prices will likely drop to half the level after a month. Because of differe
South Korean pharmaceutical firms are seeking ways to develop combination drugs to challenge Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Korea’s osteoporosis treatment Viviant (ingredient: bazedoxifene), after failing to break Pfizer’s drug patent, industry sources said Monday.Their strategies are mostly combining bazedoxifene with a Vitamin D, cholecalciferol. The latest move came from Hyundai Pharmaceutical,
Kolon Life Science said it made a strategic MOU with Korea Tour Promotion Agency (KTPA) Wednesday to attract foreign patients by making the most of Invossa K Inj, the world’s first gene therapy for osteoarthritis.Kolon will provide medical advice about Invossa, and the agency will set up a one-stop system for promotion and marketing for foreign countries, the attraction of foreign patients, an
SK Chemicals has released the results of its clinical trials of the overactive bladder syndrome treatment compound THVD-20, whose approval in Korea is unclear, not here but abroad triggering questions as to why.The Central Pharmaceutical Affairs Council at the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) 식품의약품안전처 concluded in July the development of THVD-201 had no commercial viability.SK Chem
Hanmi Pharmaceutical released the results of two new bio drugs the company is developing, in the 53rd European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) from Aug. 11-15 in Lisbon.Hanmi applied its LAPSCOVERY platform technology to the new drugs. More specifically, the technologies are YhLAPSTriple Agonist and LAPSGlucagon Analog, which showed the possibility to treat Nonalcoholic Steatohepa
LG Chemical has launched a symposium to promote its antidiabetics drug Zemiglo (ingredient: gemigliptin), at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes in Lisbon Thursday.The scholastic event will be an opportunity for the Korean chemical manufacturer to sell its drug to the global market, the company said.LG Chem officials explained how Zemiglo could inhi