Korean women are giving birth later in life, and more are using a surgical method to deliver their baby, according to a 2016 report from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) published last month.The average age of women giving birth rose, with nearly 50 percent of the monitored subjects being in the 30 to 34 age group. The next most prominent demographic group is those 35
Around 30 online petitions sent to the Blue House since last year are calling for insurance coverage of life-saving or high-cost drugs, including that for eczema treatment Dupixent (dupilumab).Petitions for the potential breakthrough eczema drug call for the insurance coverage of the therapy when it enters the domestic market later this year.“Dupixent, the new drug to be launched in the la
Konkuk University Medical Center (KUMC) opened the world’s first precision medicine lung cancer clinic that uses a novel EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) gene mutation detection method, it said.The method, developed by KUMC’s research team led by Professor Lee Kye-young, extracts DNA from the extracellular endoplasmic reticulum from body fluids (such as the bronchoalveolar lavage fl
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Korea said Friday that Hong Yoo-seok, head of GSK’s Korean division, will act as the president of GSK Canada Pharmaceuticals starting next month. Hong has served as GSK Korea’s president since 2014.Before joining GSK, Hong served as general manager of the Korean division of Eli Lilly and Company and the senior director of strategy in the company’s emerging markets bus
Family members of four infants who died at Ewha Womans University Medical Center (EUMC) called for an investigation into the hospital’s monetary handling and administration of a nutritional injection given to the newborns leading to their death.Last month, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said the cause of death of the four newborns who died within 90 minutes of each other at EUMC was bloo
Gilead Sciences’ Viread recorded the highest prescription sales in Korea, raking in 165.9 billion won ($155.2 million) in 2017, while therapies developed by Korean pharmaceuticals saw a year-on-year jump in prescription sales, according to UBIST.The top five drugs were all developed by multinational pharmaceutical companies, the data showed. Following the hepatitis B drug was Pf
Merck & Co (known as MSD outside the U.S. and Canada) said Tuesday that a Keytruda combination therapy has significantly improved survival rates for lung cancer patients as a first-line treatment.The anti PD-1 therapy combined with Eli Lilly’s Alimta (pemetrexed) and platinum chemotherapy produced statistically significant results in the KEYNOTE-189 trial, the company said.The study aimed
Novartis’ plaque psoriasis drug Cosentyx (secukinumab) showed superiority to Janssen Biotech’s Stelara (ustekinumab) in a head-to-head phase 3 study, Novartis said Tuesday.Plaque psoriasis is a skin disease often characterized by itchy, painful, red patches on the body.The CLARITY trial demonstrated “highly significant” differences between the two drugs in reaching the co-primary endpoints
Pusan National University Hospital (PNUH) said Tuesday it began expanded operations of its Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based customer service “chatbot” that serves as a 24-hour real-time consultation center.PNUH is the first tertiary hospital to have implemented an AI-based customer service application that uses natural language processing and deep learning technology to respond to custom
The Ministry of Health and Welfare said Tuesday that 43 terminally-ill patients have willingly stopped or refused life-sustaining treatments during the government’s three-month pilot project to prepare for the “well-dying” law. The law is to take effect on Feb. 4.■Related: 7 terminally ill patients die under ‘Well-Dying Law’A total of 94 patients signed a life-sustaining treatment plan tha
A research team at Severance Hospital has found gene variants that lower cholesterol levels, the hospital said Tuesday.The study led by Lee Sang-hak from Severance Hospital’s cardiology department aimed to uncover what causes below-average cholesterol levels in Korean patients with extremely poor low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) levels.The researchers selected 22 people out
Medtronic said Tuesday it appointed Chris Lee as the president of its Asia Pacific (APAC) region. Lee had served as the president of Medtronic’s Greater China region since 2012, the company said."The Asia Pacific is not only an important market for the global healthcare market but also a market with growth potential for Medtronic’s business,” Lee said.“We will develop and strengthen pa
Korea ranked sixth in the world for the number of clinical trials conducted in the country, and Seoul topped the list with the most clinical trials per city last year, the Korea National Enterprise for Clinical Trials (KoNECT) said Monday.Korea marked a historical first by accounting for 2.5 percent of all clinical trials registered with the U.S. National Institutes for Health’s ClinicalTr
The number of chronic illnesses such as cancer and cardiovascular disease has been rising, and poor diet is playing a prominent role, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said Friday.The KCDC released its Public Health Weekly Report that benchmarked the intake of 13 foods and nutrients by Korean adults against standards set by the World Health Organization, in its "Globa
Hanmi Pharmaceuticals invested the most in research and development among Korean drugmakers last year, according to data from the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI).The data presented in a 2017 KHIDI report showed Hanmi invested around 154.1 billion won ($145.6 million) last year, down from 191.9 billion won spent in 2016.Following Hanmi were GC Pharma (formerly known
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Friday it approved AstraZeneca’s PARP inhibitor Lynparza to treat patients with metastasized breast cancer with a specific inherited genetic mutation.Lynparza won the FDA approval in 2014 as a first-in-class poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitor to treat patients with a specific type of ovarian cancer.“This class of drugs has been used t
Shock rippled through Korea when Jong-hyun, a talented, prolific K-pop star from SHINee, committed suicide in December, shedding light on mental health on not just the entertainment industry but in Korea as a whole.Dr. Noh Gyu-shik, a well-known psychiatrist who authored several books on child psychology and appeared on several broadcasts as a special lecturer, sat down with Korea Biomedical R
A lawmaker has set out to revise the current laws against marijuana to allow individuals with specific medical conditions to use the herbal substance with the approval of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.Korea is arguably the land of anti-marijuana, illustrated by the continuous stream of celebrities sentenced with criminal penalties for the possession and use of the herbal substance,
A 35-year-old Korean mother has given birth to triplets two months apart, thanks to a surgery that allowed a premature delivery for one baby and delayed birthing of the remaining two, Seoul National University Hospital (SNUH) said Thursday.“This is the first time we had delayed delivery for more than eight weeks,” a hospital staff said.SNUH said that the first baby had to be delivered prem
Daewoong Pharmaceutical is making inroads into the Chinese market with its botulinum toxin (BTX) type A product, Nabota, by conducting a phase 3 clinical trial there soon, the company said Thursday.The announcement comes as the China Food and Drug Administration approved the company’s Clinical Trial Application (CTA) for Nabota filed in 2016, Daewoong said.“The Chinese approval is notewort