Yuhan Corporation said on the 3rd that it has decided to support relief supplies, including Anti-Phuramin patches and daily necessities, for disaster victims affected by wildfires in the Gyeongsang region. Due to the local characteristics, most of the disaster victims are elderly, and to support their health, about 20,000 patches, including Anti-Phuramin Big Power Plaster, and over 3,000 Happy Home kitchen detergents worth approximately 130 million won will be provided through the Korea Red Cross.
JW Pharmaceutical announced on the 3rd that it will donate 100 million won worth of cash and medical supplies to assist in the recovery of wildfire damage and support disaster victims in the Yeongnam region, designated as a special disaster area. The donation of 50 million won has been pledged to the Hope Bridge National Disaster Relief Association and will be used for support related to the livelihood, medical care, and housing of victims in the affected area, as well as for wildfire recovery projects. Additionally, it plans to provide 50 million won worth of relief medical supplies, including artificial tears "Friends Eye Drop" and low-irritation disposable bandages "High Mom Band Sensitive," to the victims through the Gyeongbuk Pharmacists Association.
Samjin Pharm announced that it has donated a total of 100 million won worth of medications, health supplements, and cash to help disaster victims and the local community affected by the wildfires in the Gyeongsang region. The company made the donation through the "Emergency Relief Network for Pharmaceuticals" participated in by the Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio Association. Key items include essential medications needed for emergencies like fever and pain relievers "Geborin" and anti-anxiety medications "Anjeong-aek," along with health supplements that aid in immunity enhancement and vitality recovery, like "Haru Engine Plus" and "Immune Booster Shot." Furthermore, a separate donation of 50 million won for wildfire recovery has also been made. This donation will be used for emergency relief activities aimed at the rapid recovery of the affected area and stabilization of living conditions for the victims.
Onconic Therapeutics announced on the 3rd that it has applied to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety for the new product approval of the orally dissolving tablet treatment P-CAB (potassium competitive acid blocker) Jakubow (ingredient name: Jastaprazan). This approval application is based on the clinical trial results proving the biological equivalence classified as Phase 1, developed through the reformulation of the previously approved new drug Jakubow. With this achievement, Onconic Therapeutics is likely to become the second company in the world to possess orally dissolving tablets among the P-CAB class new drugs. Orally dissolving tablets are an innovative formulation that can be taken without water, particularly useful for patients who have difficulty swallowing pills or need to take medication quickly.
Celltrion announced on the 3rd that it has decided to buy back additional shares worth 100 billion won following its decision to burn its treasury stock the previous day. This marks the third treasury stock buyback for Celltrion this year, with a total of 350 billion won in treasury stock acquired since the beginning of the year. The current buyback involves 589,276 shares worth approximately 100 billion won. The treasury stock acquisition is set to take place through on-market purchases starting on the 4th.
CLASSYS announced on the 3rd that it has appointed senior director Shin Kyung-ja as an outside director, who was in charge of platform and device marketing for Google in the Asia-Pacific region. Director Shin is an expert with over 20 years of experience in global marketing and management strategy. CLASSYS expects to create synergies in its marketing strategy utilizing digital artificial intelligence (AI) tools and in its global growth strategy through the recruitment of Director Shin.
Dong-A Pharmaceutical announced on the 3rd that it has conducted a package renewal for its Ichinon cream, used for treating skin dryness. The new package incorporates design elements that highlight the product's key characteristics, enhancing consumer understanding. The front of the package features the phrase "treatment for itching due to skin dryness" to indicate the main indication of the product and notes the key characteristic of being steroid-free. The side of the package visually represents the four combined ingredients of Ichinon cream—heparinoid, diphenhydramine, tocopheryl acetate, and allantoin—to intuitively communicate the characteristics of each ingredient to consumers.
SillaJen announced that five major cancer research institutions in the United States, including the MD Anderson Cancer Center, Yale Cancer Center, and Montefiore Cancer Center, along with one institution in Korea, will participate in the clinical trials for the anticancer drug BAL0891 for acute myeloid leukemia (AML). These institutions have recently been registered as participants on the global clinical trial registry site. BAL0891 is an innovative dual-inhibitor anticancer drug that simultaneously inhibits TTK (Threonine Tyrosine Kinase) and PLK1 (Polo-Like Kinase 1), and clinical trials targeting various solid tumors are currently underway in both Korea and the U.S. Recently, SillaJen applied to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a change in the clinical trial plan (IND) to expand the indications for BAL0891 to acute myeloid leukemia.
Puzzle AI, a healthcare AI-specialized company, announced on the 3rd that it has established an AI-based voice recognition medical record system in all medical environments, including emergency rooms, wards, and clinics, in collaboration with Asan Medical Center, becoming the first in Korea. The core of this project is to recognize the clinical dialogue between medical staff and patients through voice and to automatically generate medical records in real-time by summarizing it using generative AI. The company applied the clinical voice data from Asan Medical Center to its voice recognition model, improving voice recognition accuracy to 96.1% in various clinical situations. Notably, utilizing a high-performance open-source language model, it successfully developed a specialized lightweight language model (sLLM) tailored for medical use that enables dialogue summarization and medical record inference. The accuracy of summarization and inference with this model has been rated at 92.8% based on medical staff evaluation criteria.
HYUNDAI BIOSCIENCE announced on the 3rd that it has recruited Business Strategy Officer Lee Ji-eun, who has over 20 years of experience in marketing strategy from both domestic and foreign pharmaceutical companies, including Novartis Korea and Hanmi Pharmaceutical. Officer Lee holds degrees in chemistry from Chung-Ang University and an MBA from Yonsei University. After working at Hanmi Pharmaceutical and Yuyu Pharma, she focused on marketing strategy for anticancer and rare disease treatments in global pharmaceutical companies such as Novartis Korea, Mundipharma Korea, and Takeda Pharmaceutical. At HYUNDAI BIOSCIENCE, Officer Lee will oversee business development overseas and global marketing strategies, focusing on anticancer platform technologies and antiviral commercialization.
The Korean Dental Association (KDA) announced on the 3rd that it will hold commemorative events such as an international comprehensive academic conference and a dental medical device exhibition from the 11th to the 13th at the Incheon Songdo Convensia, marking its 100th anniversary. The academic conference will feature clinical lectures targeting dentists as well as discussions on the future of the dental industry and the sharing of domestic dental policies for people with disabilities. The dental medical device exhibition will see participation from dental medical device companies leading the export of medical devices in Korea, including implants. The KDA traces its roots back to the Hanseong Dental Society, founded in 1925 exclusively by Korean dentists during the Japanese colonial period.
Korea Medical Association chairman Kim Taek-woo visited the emergency disaster medical support unit established at the wildfire disaster site in northern Gyeongbuk on the 2nd to encourage medical staff and volunteers and participate directly in treatments. On the morning of the 2nd, Chairman Kim met with Gyeongbuk local government officials to discuss health management and support measures for residents in the affected areas, as well as plans for medical personnel and relief supplies support, and delivered a donation of 50 million won to Gyeongbuk Province for wildfire recovery. Over 200 doctors in the Gyeongbuk region have provided medical support, and over 150 Korea Medical Association doctors are participating in the medical support activities.
DXVX announced on the 3rd that it has signed a technology introduction contract with Luca AI Cell for its next-generation antiviral therapy platform. The technology introduced by the company is a universal remedy for infections from the coronavirus and its variants. The LEAD peptide therapy developed by Luca recognizes small sizes like the coronavirus. It acts as an antiviral agent by recognizing the curvature of the virus surface made of lipids, attaching to it, and destroying the virus's surface. Because it only attacks viruses smaller than 200 nanometers without touching normal cells, side effects or toxicity are minimal. This technology can also be applicable to treat infections from deadly viruses such as Zika, Ebola, dengue, and Marburg virus.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency urged the public on the 3rd to follow safety rules to prevent injuries while using personal mobility devices (PMs). According to the agency, the number of accidents involving 'other land transport' including personal mobility devices totaled 1,820 in 2023, which is a 4.7-fold increase compared to 388 cases in 2016. While the incidence of severe injuries across most categories has decreased, the number of incidents involving other types, including personal mobility devices, has increased more than threefold. As a result, the agency has distributed pamphlets and announcements to raise awareness regarding personal mobility device safety rules and helmet use. They will also continue to strengthen safety management activities through collaborative campaigns with the National Communication Group, and will actively expand related initiatives to ensure safety rules are utilized on site.
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced on the 3rd that it will focus on collecting medical devices primarily used at home to verify their performance and safety. Six regional food and drug safety offices will participate in this verification along with the Ministry. The focus will be on medical devices used mostly at home by infants and the elderly, with 11 items selected, including thermometers, hearing aids, and personal heating devices. Collection will be carried out by medical device distribution companies and retailers in each region. Products that fall short of performance or do not meet safety standards will face administrative actions and disposal.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency announced on the 3rd that the proposal for the "Special Act on the Compensation for Vaccine Adverse Reactions for COVID-19" passed the National Assembly on the 2nd. This new law establishes criteria to infer causality for adverse reactions following COVID-19 vaccinations, allowing for appeals to be made within one year of the law's enactment, even if a decision had been made on compensation claims before the law took effect. The agency will set up a "COVID-19 Vaccine Adverse Reaction Compensation Committee" to make decisions on compensation matters and a "Re-examination Committee" to handle appeals. New review criteria will be applied for inferring causality in cases where it is proven that adverse reactions following COVID-19 vaccinations are not due to other factors. Additionally, even for cases not covered by compensation, medical expenses and death consolation money will be provided if the need for support is recognized.