GlaxoSmithKline Korea said Tuesday it has taken over the largest market share in Japan with its male hair loss treatment Avodart (dutasteride). The news comes on the heels of JW Pharma announcing successful development of a dutasteride tablet generic Monday.According to GSK Korea, Avodart took the top market share in November last year after long playing second fiddle to Merck’s Propecia (fina
Researchers from Kyung Hee University College of Medicine said they have become one step closer to finding the cause of Parkinson’s disease through research that revealed protein DJ-1’s relationship to the disease.The team led by Professor Kim Sung-hyun confirmed the phenomenon of how the protein called DJ-1, also known as the Parkinson disease protein, impairs synaptic vesicle endocytosis and
The #MeToo movement has spread like wildfire in Korea leading to the downfall of powerful men, with the accusations of sexual harassment being directed against doctors at two of the nation’s largest hospitals.A group of 12 doctors at Seoul National University Hospital’s (SNUH) Department of Psychiatry’s Planning Personnel Committee has requested an investigation into a fellow psychiatric d
Three government agencies said they would offer free education programs for 80 to 100 medical and bio startups seeking to go abroad. Startups can apply from Thursday to March 21.The Korea Research-based Pharma Industry Association (KRPIA), Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), and Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI) launched their “Global Pharmaceutical and Startup C
Gachon University Gil Medical Center opened an artificial intelligence (AI) clinic for people with severe diabetes Monday. “The advanced diabetes clinic has the latest treatment methods and the expertise and system that parallel the level of advanced countries. The clinic will serve to increase the level of diabetes treatment domestically,” said Professor Kim Byung-joon from Gil Med
Gilead Sciences’ HIV-preventing therapy Truvada will cost about 400,000 won ($374) a month, and piling on consultation and treatment fees will likely rack up the medical bill to $5,000 a year, industry sources say.The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on Feb. 13 granted expanded approval for Truvada (emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate) as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) therapy to prev
Communication is essential to maintaining a healthy sex life for couples affected by a cancer diagnosis, new research from Samsung Medical Center showed Wednesday.The hospital has been teaching cancer patients and their significant others how to have a healthy sex life during or after treatment through its Cancer Education Center since 2008. Despite the educational programs, many couples e
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration Wednesday approved Oxford Immunotec’s screening tests for a malaria-like parasite infection called Babesiosis in blood donors.Blacklegged or deer ticks, also known as Ixodes scapularis ticks, transmit Babesia parasites that cause the disease. In the U.S., there are around 1,000 to 2,000 cases of Babesiosis annually with most appearing in the Northeast and
Seven Korean pharmaceuticals successfully invalidated the composition-of-matter patent for Eliquis, a novel anticoagulant (NOAC), Wednesday. Developer Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) said Friday it would file an appeal and “respond aggressively.”The Intellectual Property Tribunal invalidated the first and second claim of the patent called “Lactam-Containing Compounds and Derivatives thereof asFacto
Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital opened the Catholic Hematology Hospital Thursday as the country’s first hospital that specializes in treating blood diseases. The hospital was created by extending and renewing its existing hematopoietic stem cell transplant center. The stem cell transplant center has accumulated an impressive list of firsts in its field. Last year, it became the first inst
Win Htut Zaw, an immigrant from Myanmar who had worked at a Korean factory since 2012, saved the lives of four Koreans by donating his organs upon his death, the Korea Organ Donation Agency said.The 44-year old man died following a fatal injury at work in January despite getting surgery at a hospital in Busan and treatment at an intensive care unit for two weeks. Zaw died Saturday after do
Baxter International Thursday appointed Hyun Don as the new general manager of the company’s Korean branch.Hyun served as the general manager of Baxter Healthcare in Korea from 2004 to 2008. From 2008, he acted as the managing director of Merck’s Korean branch for eight years until serving as the global brand leader for Merck’s U.S. vaccine division located in the greater Philadelphia area
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said it would revise the warning labels for eight types of gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs), encompassing a total of 25 such products. The label changes will go into effect on Mar. 15.“Our ministry examined the safety information of GBCAs by comprehensively examining the status domestically and abroad, counsel from the central drug evaluation commit
A type of hangover soup has the highest sodium content among 44 food items Koreans picked most frequently when they dined out last year, according to a recent report by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.The report found one bowl (1,000 grams) of hangover soup based on swine backbone, called ppyeodagwi haejangguk, had a whopping sodium amount of 3,088 mg, indicating a person eating the whole
Enzychem Lifesciences said Tuesday that it struck an 81.5 billion won ($75.3 million) export deal with Taiwan-based InnoPharmax for its magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast medium, Gadobutrol.The multimillion-dollar deal will begin to generate revenue starting in 2020, pushing up the company’s 2016 sales by up to 370 percent, according to Enzychem.Under the contract, the Korean pharma
Daewoong Pharmaceutical will begin distributing two of AstraZeneca’s diabetes drugs in Korea starting Mar. 1 under a partnership agreement the two parties signed recently, AstraZeneca Korea said Wednesday."We look forward to further expanding our influence in the market because of our partnership with Daewoong Pharmaceutical, which has accumulated several years of experience in the area of dia
A research team from Yonsei University College of Medicine has discovered the survival mechanism of cancer stem cells and a corresponding anticancer drug combination that can kill them, Severance said Tuesday.Stem cells, which can repeat the process of growth and regeneration, are found in tissues in the body, including in cancer tissues. Up to 2 percent of cancer tissues are comprised of canc
Eli Lilly and Company Korea said Tuesday that its diabetes treatment Trulicity (ingredient: dulaglutide) recorded sales of more than 12 billion won ($11.1 million) last year, becoming a blockbuster therapy in one year and six months of its launch.“The fact that Trulicity has become a blockbuster drug in just one and a half years after launch is all the more meaningful because it proves that Li
MSD Korea said Tuesday that it got expanded coverage for Keytruda (pembrolizumab) as a first-and later-line therapy to treat melanoma from the Ministry of Drug and Food Safety early this month.Melanoma patients who did not receive anti-PD-1 or PD-L1 immunotherapies and cannot undergo surgery or melanoma patients whose tumor has metastasized can now benefit from the expanded coverage of Key
Although several therapies for Gaucher disease exist, most take an hour to administer. That may soon change with Shire’s new method, which reduces drug-infusion time for Gaucher disease patients. Gaucher disease is a rare genetic disorder, classified into three clinical subtypes, wherein an enzyme called glucocerebrosidase does not work correctly and cannot break down a lipid called