Sillajen said it has appointed a new CEO and planned to add new businesses at a shareholders meeting late this month to normalize and bolster its business.On Thursday, the company’s board of directors appointed vice president Jang Dong-taek as new CEO and senior managing director Park Sang-keun as h
Besremi (ropeginterferon alfa-2b), developed by Taiwanese drugmaker Pharma Essentia, obtained marketing approval in Korea. It is a next-generation interferon that acts directly on hematopoietic stem cells to treat polycythemia vera fundamentally.On Wednesday, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety app
The government said Thursday that if the nation’s Covid-19 vaccination rate reaches 85 percent, it can shut off the Delta variant without quarantine measures, such as wearing masks and limiting business hours."When the inoculation rate reaches 85 percent, herd immunity will rise to 80 percent," said
Novartis Korea said that it has confirmed that Certican, its transplant immunosuppressant, preserves renal function, reduces viral infection, and has immunosuppressive efficacy in Asian kidney transplant patients, through a sub-analysis of the TRANSFORM study.According to the company, the TRANSFORM
Seoul National University Bundang Hospital (SNUBH) researchers have developed an electrophysiological test method that predicts the cure rate of microvascular decompression surgery, a representative treatment for hemifacial spasms.Hemifacial spasm is a disease in which the cerebral blood vessel comp
The number of foreign patients visiting Korea for cosmetic surgery plummeted 99 percent in the first half compared to the same period of 2019 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, government data showed.According to the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI) data submitted to Rep. Nam In-soon o
EuBiologics is struggling to get a comparative vaccine to conduct a phase 3 trial of a Covid-19 vaccine, industry officials said.A comparative vaccine is essential for a comparative immunogenicity study because a vaccine candidate should prove its non-inferiority to the authorized vaccine.Compared t
The government took an ambiguous position on a drug delivery service, temporarily allowed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.On the one hand, the government recognized the criticism of pharmacists and politicians that drug delivery could cause adverse effects. But, on the other hand, the government vowed
New Gyeonggi Province Mental Hospital (NGPMH) said Wednesday that its 24-hour hospitalization system for psychiatric emergency patients has shown innovative results in treatment effect.The hospital said that the system has improved health indicators in terms of emergency hospitalization, quality of
The world’s first CAR-T therapy, Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel), passed the review of a panel at the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA), the first of multiple steps to get health insurance coverage.However, its manufacturer Novartis and the health authorities are expected to have grue
The spread of the Covid-19 epidemic is slowing down as the inoculation rate for the virus has risen to a high level in Korea, health officials said Wednesday."Although the amount of movement has increased, the government judges that the overall size of the epidemic is shifting to a downturn thanks t
The Korean Neurological Association (KNA) said that it has won the bid to host the 2025 World Congress of Neurology (WCN) in Seoul for the first time.The biennial WCN is the largest international academic conference in neuroscience, participated in by about 6,000 experts from 120 countries worldwide
A new gastrointestinal (GI) disorder treatment, developed by Yuhan Corp. and licensed out to a U.S. biotech firm, won the FDA approval for a Phase 2a trial.At the time of the licensing agreement, Yuhan received the U.S. partner company’s common stock in an upfront payment. The market is paying atten
A research team at Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) has developed a nanomedicine that can be used as a carrier delivering vaccine and anticancer drugs without accumulating in the liver.The state-run institute said Wednesday that the iron oxide nanomedicine, developed by KAERI’s Advance
Researchers at Gachon University Gil Medical Center have confirmed that air pollutants are the main cause of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which can cause blindness for the first time in the world.AMD is a disease in which the macula, located in the center of the eye's retina, has a deform
A research team at Gangnam Severance Hospital has confirmed that antiviral treatment for acute herpes zoster could prevent cardiovascular disease, the hospital said.Herpes zoster, also known as shingles, is a skin disease that causes rashes or blisters, usually occurring in people over 50 as their i
Olix Pharmaceutical said it has signed a licensing and cooperative agreement with China’s Jiangsu Hansoh Pharmaceuticals Group to research and develop siRNA (small interfering ribonucleic acid) treatments.Under the accord, the two companies plan to discover therapeutic substances for cardiovascular
CureVac said it has decided to stop developing its first-generation mRNA Covid-19 vaccine candidate, CVnCoV, due to disappointing efficacy in phase 3 clinical trials and focus on a more promising second-generation vaccine with GSK.The company expected to get approval for CVnCoV in the second quarter
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety ordered Hana Pharm to temporarily suspend its narcotics products such as anesthetics and pain relievers.Expecting the administrative punishment will take a significant toll on its sales, the company said it would take legal actions against the MFDS. In a public f
Novo Nordisk has started a clinical trial of semaglutide, a second-generation treatment for obesity after Saxenda (liraglutide), tailored for the Korean population. Saxenda is the leading obesity treatment in Korea in terms of sales.On Sept. 30, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety approved a phase