LifeStyle

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  Celltrion allowed to go ahead with last-stage clinical test of COVID-19 antibody treatment SEOUL -- South Korea's public health watchdog approved second and third-stage clinical trials to verify the efficacy and safety of a COVID-19 antibody treatment developed by Celltrion, which has vowed to complete preparations for the mass supply of therapeutic antibodies for emergency domestic use by the end of this year. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety allowed Celltrion to carry out a Phase 2 clinical study involving 300 patients and a Phase 3 clinical study involving 72 2020-09-17
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  Clinical trials sought for Ivaltinostat in treating acute pneumonia or fibrosis caused by COVID-19 SEOUL -- Crystal Genomics, a biopharmaceutical company in South Korea, will carry out clinical trials to see if its novel drug candidate, Ivaltinostat, is effective in treating acute pneumonia or fibrosis caused by a novel coronavirus. Crystal Genomics has developed Ivalinostat for various indications such as liver cancer and fibrosis. The company claimed to have confirmed the anti-inflammatory effect of Ivaltinostat by administering it with Camostat to hamster models infected wit 2020-09-15
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  S. Korea approves acquisition of COVID-19 vaccines for 60 % of entire population SEOUL -- The South Korean government approved the proposed acquisition of COVID-19 vaccines that can inoculate some 30 million people or 60 percent of the entire population through cooperation with an international body or foreign companies while accelerating the independent development of effective vaccines. In a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, the government decided to acquire vaccines for 10 million people through COVAX Facility, an international organiz 2020-09-15
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  China approves Hunter Syndrome drug from S. Korea's GC Pharm SEOUL -- China's regulatory body has approved a drug developed by GC Pharma, a biotech company in South Korea, for the long-term treatment of patients with Hunter syndrome, a rare, inherited disorder in which the body does not properly digest sugar molecules. GC Pharma said Hunterase has acquired approval from the National Medical Products Administration. An application has been made through CANBridge Pharmaceuticals, which is in charge of Hunterase's development and comme 2020-09-09
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  Celltrion makes preparations for emergency domestic use of COVID-19 antibodies SEOUL -- Celltrion, a South Korean bio firm involved in a state project to find the treatment of COVID-19 patients, vowed to make preparations for the mass supply of therapeutic antibodies for emergency domestic use by the end of this year. The first-stage clinical test of Celltrion's antibody treatment was completed in August. Celltrion Chairman Seo Jung-jin said in a conference hosted by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on September 7 that his company is ready to carry o 2020-09-08
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  Daewoong allowed to test efficacy of tapeworm treatment medicine in Philippines SEOUL -- Daewoong Pharmaceutical, a major bioengineering company in South Korea, has secured approval from a Philippine health regulatory agency to test the efficacy of niclosamide (DWRX2003), a tapeworm treatment medicine selected as a candidate for COVID-19 antibody treatment. The first clinical study covering 40 patients would begin in September. Daewoong said it was allowed by the Food and Drug Administration of the Philippines to go ahead with the first-stage clinical trial o 2020-09-07
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  EOFlow aims to become leading player in wearable medical device market SEOUL -- Ahead of its initial public offering, EOFlow is in the limelight as a promising biotech firm that specializes in wearable drug delivery solutions based on electric osmosis pump technology. The company aims to become a leading player in the global market with innovative medical devices such as wearable artificial kidneys. EOPatch, the brainchild of CEO Jesse Kim, is the world's smallest full-featured wearable and disposable insulin pump that increased user convenienc 2020-08-28
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  Yangi Hospital's 'walk-thru' diagnostic booth wins domestic patent SEOUL -- A safe diagnostic system introduced for the quick screening of patients infected with a novel coronavirus obtained its first domestic patent. The patent has been applied by H+ Yangji Hospital head Kim Sang-il, who introduced a "walk-thru" booth for the first time in South Korea in February. Yangji operates four booths to examine more than 100 cases a day. The booth keeps the virus apart from medical personnel, minimizes cross-infection and reduces the waiting ti 2020-08-25
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  Celltrion teams up with British bio company to develop oral infliximab SEOUL -- Celltrion, a leading biosimilar manufacturer in South Korea, has signed a joint development agreement with Intract Pharma, a British bio company, to develop oral infliximab in the form of pills. Infliximab is the basic ingredient of Remsima, a copy of Janssen Biotech's Remicade treating rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn's disease. Celltrion said in a statement it would provide infliximab as a raw material for clinical trials, while Intract is in charge of development 2020-08-20
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  Yuhan secures drug technology transfer deal from American company Processa SEOUL -- Yuhan, a pharmaceutical and chemical company in South Korea, clinched a deal worth up to $410.5 million to transfer the technology of YH12852, a new drug candidate for the treatment of functional gastrointestinal disease, to Processa Pharmaceuticals, an American pharmaceutical company. Yuhan will receive Processa shares worth $2 million in down payment as well as royalties and milestone payments, which are paid when each milestone is achieved in clinical trials and commer 2020-08-20
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  Korea United Pharm's asthma drug candidate to be regenerated for COVID-19 treatment SEOUL -- Korea United Pharm will develop an inhaler-type treatment of COVID-19 patients by regenerating an asthma drug candidate which is easy to take without the help of medical staff and contributes to the prevention of secondary infections. Quick clinical trials will be conducted and completed in the Philippines. The pharmaceutical company said that it would develop a COVID-19 drug by using its asthma drug candidate called UI030 which has a low risk of systemic side effects and 2020-08-19
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  Genexine to test toxicity of immunotherapeutic drug candidate for intranasal administration SEOUL -- Genexine, a clinical-stage biotechnology company involved in a state-commissioned research consortium to develop a DNA vaccine material for COVID-19, will conduct a pre-clinical test to confirm the toxicity of its immunotherapeutic drug candidate, GX-I7, by spraying it to the nasal cavity. According to Genexine, the intranasal administration method prevents virus infection for 5 to 35 days by increasing lymphocytes that control the immune system in the airway mucosa area wh 2020-08-18
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  Natural killer cells found to be effective in killing cells infected with new coronavirus SEOUL -- Natural killer cells were confirmed to be effective in killing cells infected with a new coronavirus in a study conducted by GC Labcell, a manufacturer of cell therapy products in South Korea, which promotes its natural killer (NK) cell treatment as next-generation immuno-oncology. For its joint study with a research team at Chungbuk National University College of Medicine, GC Labcell said in a statement that it has reacted NK cells to cells infected with the coronavirus an 2020-08-18
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  SK Bioscience agrees to produce antigen of Novavax COVID-19 vaccine candidate SEOUL -- SK Bioscience, a cooperation partner for South Korea's state project to develop COVID-19 vaccines, will produce the antigen of a vaccine candidate being developed by Novavax, an American vaccine development company, that would be supplied in South Korea and globally if it proves to be safe and effective through clinical trials. Novavax is undergoing clinical trials for its vaccine candidate, NVX-CoV2373, which was generally well-tolerated and elicited robust antibody 2020-08-14
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  U.S. company PBS partners with SCM Lifescience for stem cell mass-production SEOUL -- PBS Biotech, the American manufacturer of single-use bioreactors, joined hands with SCM Lifescience, the South Korean developer of high-purity allogeneic stem cell therapeutics, to develop and optimize the process of producing up to 80 liters of stem cells by using a three-dimensional incubator. The two companies signed a deal to develop a mass-production process by the first half of next year. The three-dimensional method is cost-effective as it enables a short incubat 2020-08-12
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  KT carries out research for platform to measure risk of COVID-19 infection SEOUL -- KT, a leading telecom company in South Korea, will carry out research for the development of a platform to measure the risk of COVID-19 infection, with financial support from the Research Investment for Global Health Technology (RIGHT) Fund, which is a funding agency dedicated to supporting global health research and development. KT said it would measure the risk of infection by analyzing data related to past movements of smartphone app users and movements of COVID-19 pat 2020-08-05
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  Mobile app makes commercial debut to check health status of prostate and bladder with sound analysis SEOUL -- A diagnostic mobile application that can check the health status of prostate and bladder with sound analysis and artificial intelligence technology made its commercial debut. Without visiting doctors for uroflowmetry, the app allows users to check the maximum speed of urination with their urine sound. A medical research team led by Lee Sang-chul, a professor of urology at Seoul National University (SNU) Bundang Hospital, has worked with Soundable Health, a healthcare vent 2020-08-05
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  Macrogen teams up with domestic rivals to participate in K-DNA big data project SEOUL -- Macrogen, a leading biotech company and expert in genomic analysis in South Korea, will form a consortium with two domestic rivals to participate in a state pilot project aimed at establishing big data in biology. It is part of the so-called K-DNA project to support the development of new drugs, medical device products and the digital healthcare industry. Macrogen said that it signed a business agreement with DNA Link, a biotech company specializing in genomic research, a 2020-08-04
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  S. Korea's drive-thru COVID-19 screening seeks approval as international standard SEOUL -- A drive-thru system introduced by South Korea for the quick and safe screening of patients infected with a novel coronavirus went beyond the primary gateway to become an international standard at an international body that promotes worldwide proprietary, industrial, and commercial standards. The method has been benchmarked widely by other countries. The drive-thru screening method proposed by South Korea in April to a technical committee of the Geneva-based International 2020-08-04
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  NHN's cooperative medical care software awaits deregulation SEOUL -- The use of messengers for collaboration by medical staff is restricted in South Korea because a medical law prohibits uploading patients' medical information to external platforms. To get around regulations, NHN, an IT company that focuses on cloud services, has used its technology and know-how to develop a cooperate care software called "TOAST MedicalTalk" at the request of medical staff. MedicalTalk is a specialized medical team-only collaboration messen 2020-07-22