■On the 24th, Korea Novo Nordisk Pharmaceutical announced that it has applied to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety for permission to use the obesity drug 'Wegovy' for adolescents aged 12 and older. Wegovy is currently administered to adult patients with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher. If it is proven that adolescents can safely use Wegovy, the ministry can approve the indication for use (target disease). In countries like the United States and Europe, adolescents are already receiving prescriptions for Wegovy.
■On the 24th, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency announced that it will conduct a joint external evaluation led by the World Health Organization (WHO) in August. This evaluation will assess whether South Korea has properly equipped itself to respond to public health crises since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). South Korea faced the MERS outbreak and first underwent a joint external evaluation in 2017. At that time, the evaluations in the areas of vaccination and food safety were positive.
■On the 24th, the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced that it will establish a regional medical and nursing cooperation system based on traditional Korean medicine. The ministry convened the first Commissioner of Traditional Korean Medicine Development and Growth Review Committee on the same day to deliberate on this matter. The ministry will build a collaboration system with regional long-term care centers and daytime protection centers. Additionally, it decided to conduct a midterm evaluation of a pilot project for applying health insurance benefits to traditional medicine that treats allergic rhinitis and functional dyspepsia.
■On the 24th, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced that it will train specialized personnel in regulatory science for food and pharmaceuticals. These specialized personnel will develop products while reviewing their safety, various permits, and regulations. Ultimately, they will ensure that products can be used safely. The ministry will recruit training institutions for regulatory science specialists among universities, research institutions, and public institutions by the 20th of next month.
■On the 24th, CHA Vaccine, a subsidiary of CHA Biotech, announced that it has been selected for the '2025 First Half Patent Research and Development (R&D) Strategy Support Project' led by the Korean Intellectual Property Office and the Korea Patent Strategy Development Institute. This project aims to support the establishment of a dedicated patent team for domestic corporations to facilitate research and development and intellectual property (IP) strategies. CHA Vaccine plans to develop a patent strategy for immuno-oncology substances using messenger RNA (mRNA) technology.