“I do not think the questions are relevant to this occasion. Please check them with our external cooperation division.”Such absurd response came from Kang Sung-sik, Country Medical Director and Internal Medicine Lead of Pfizer Korea, at a news conference hosted by the company on anti-smoking drug Champix in Seoul, Wednesday.This reporter asked three questions to Pfizer Korea.The first
Thirty-six Koreans commit suicide every day. That translates into one death every 40 minutes.But that has long ceased to be news here. Korea has held the title of “suicide nation” among OECD countries. According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare Tuesday, about 13,000 people ended their lives in 2016, including 1,900 individuals in their 30s, 2,600 in their 40s, and 2,700 in their 50s.A
Korean pharmaceutical and biosimilar companies have recently stepped up their efforts to sell and advertise their products overseas. Despite accelerating marketing efforts, however, most of them still produce press releases in Korean and provide the materials only for vernacular media outlets. To be sure, the domestic companies have successfully exported their products through licensin
Korea takes up the lion’s share in manufacturing condoms worldwide but ranks last among OECD countries when it comes to using them.Condoms are, without argument, a method for having safe sex. The barrier device, commonly made from latex, decreases the chance of pregnancy by around 85 percent. And unlike birth control pills, condoms also protect against sexually transmitted infection such a
With the Hallyu wave and a dictatorship ruled by a lunatic on its doorstep, a spotlight has been given to South Korea over the past several years. The government has used this advantage to robustly promote the nation’s language, its customs and etiquette, and of course, its food.If one scrolls through Google after typing “Korean cuisine,” dozens of articles and blogs will pop up. And in every
Despite the national slogan to attract more foreign tourists, the government does not seem to be keen on protecting foreigners after they arrive here.The lack of concerns about foreigners’ safety in times of natural disasters and massive epidemics has been noticeable over the past few years.A case in point was the government’s reactions to the outbreak of the Middle Eastern Respiratory
Kim Chu-young, a hiker in his mid-60s, was climbing up Mt. Achasan in southern Seoul last month, as he had always done every weekend for years, when he suddenly collapsed on the mountaintop.As luck would have it, Kim Ki-man, a KBS announcer, stumbled across him and immediately sensed something was wrong. After failing to find his heartbeat, Kim called 119.A cardiac arrest causes permanent
The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, better known as the Ministry of Women여성가족부, raised more than a few eyebrows within the government because of its patronizing – and misaimed -- remarks on gender recently.The ministry sent out a loaded press release last week saying “(women) should be justly respected as human beings” while trying to address low female participation in clinical tr
I remember my first HIV/AIDS commercial vividly over 13 years ago. It was on a hot and sticky summer day in Hong Kong and being a typical 11-12-year-old, I was eagerly glued to the TV to watch the latest episode of the cartoon series X-men. The channel resumed to its boring 5-minute commercial run, and suddenly I saw basketball player Yao Ming, one of China's best-known athletes, laughing brightly
On Tuesday, a postman burned himself to death after his superiors changed his delivery zone of the past 20 years. The previous day, a bus driver dozed off in the middle of a highway, killing two and injuring 16.In reporting these accidents, the media focused on facts. And the most common reaction to the postman’s death was drenched in sarcasm. Readers said, “He must have been the best post
Dear CEO Michael Goettler,“There was no mention of Ibrance in the question and answer session at the Pfizer media event for rare diseases.”I got a phone call from Pfizer Korea Monday. We talked about a media event organized by Pfizer Korea in which you took part. A reporter working for the Korea Biomedical Review, the sister paper of the Korean Doctors Weekly, also participated in the even
“About 200,000 foreigners are living in Korea who do not speak fluent Korean. Is the country doing anything to help them in the case of an outbreak?”So asked Marek Repovský, First Counsellor for the Delegation of the European Union to Korea, who sat among the audience at the “Risk communication and leadership during health emergencies” workshop held in downtown Seoul Wednesday.Stupefi
Is Celltrion’s biosimilar Remsima safe and effective?It may be a stupid question, given that the drug has won approvals in the United States and Europe to become a globally recognized rheumatoid arthritis treatment.Still, I was curious: How might doctors abroad -- i.e. advanced countries, including the U.S. -- think of the Korean biosimilar? What are the responses in “real world,” mean
Korea’s four largest hospitals boast of their international service centers and multilingual coordinators through the in-hospital concierge. The government subsidizes part of these facilities, but are they providing services to the satisfaction of foreigners?Being a foreigner who has lived in Korea for some time, this reporter decided to test them firsthand, disguised as a short-term sojourner
People pay much attention to and have interests in immunotherapy for cancer. The reason is simple: Its efficacy is better but the side effects are much less than the existing chemotherapy or target anticancer drugs. Even people can expect a full recovery. The efficacy is being proved by clinical trials. It isn’t only applied to a specific cancer, but to various cancers.It is true thorough