Genexine‘s COVID-19 treatment candidate GX-17 was given the Korean drug authority’s grant to proceed to phase 1 human trials, Friday. 　GX-17 is a protein drug recombining human IL-7 and hybrid Fc (hyFc) that the company had been developing as an anti-cancer treatment. It is a T-Cell growth factor that proliferates a patient‘s immune cells, by which it slows the progression of an illness and hastens recovery. 　With the addition of GX-17, South Korea now has 13 treatment resea

Daewoong Pharmaceutical on Friday accused the US’ International Trade Commission’s decision to put a 10-year sales ban on its botulinum toxin product of “lacking evidence” and being “biased and distorted.” Daewoong said it has filed a detailed complaint to the USITC for its “significant errors.” Daewoong has been enwrapped in legal battles in Korea and in the US against Medytox for nearly five years over an alleged theft of trade secrets by a for

Celltrion posted a record-setting second quarter report on Friday, citing Truxima’s rapid market uptake in the US and increased productivity at its reinforced plant No. 1 in Songdo, Incheon. Celltrion’s second quarter revenue reached 428.8 billion won ($361.7 million), up 82.5 percent on-year, and operating profit hit 181.8 billion won, up 118 percent on-year. Both are the highest numbers Celltrion has reported in any quarter. The company is confident it has ample power to generate

Enzychem Lifesciences’ COVID-19 treatment candidate EC-18 was granted by the US’ Food and Drug Administration to carry out phase 2 clinical trial on confirmed patients, the company said Friday. In this phase 2 clinical trial, Enzychem Lifesciences will confirm the therapeutic effects of EC-18 for acute respiratory distress syndrome prevalent in COVID-19 patients with pneumonia. EC-18 is a novel drug candidate that had been in phase 2 clinical trials for chemoradiation-induced oral

Nexon on Thursday posted a record second-quarter revenue of 730.1 billion won ($615.4 million), a 20 percent jump on-year, thanks to the strong sales of both PC and mobile games, despite its lower-than-expected performance in China. The Korean game company witnessed an operating profit of 302.5 billion won, a whopping 106 percent surge on-year in the same period, propelled by the growth of already popular PC games and the success of newly released mobile games based on those popular PC games

SK Biopharmaceuticals’ European partner stakes everything on breakthrough epilepsy drug

The South Korean government plans to supply 132,000 housing units in Seoul and its neighboring areas, according to an announcement made by the Finance Ministry on Tuesday. For this, the government has decided to ease regulations for reconstruction of aged apartments, as well as utilizing the government’s idle properties in the metropolitan areas. Of the 132,000 units, 33,000 units will be provided in Seoul by repurposing state-owned properties and public spaces that have been sitting i

The beauty of Sumo is in its simplicity. Whoever pushes the opponent out of the ring wins. Thanks to this simplicity, there’s no need to study or understand the sport. Spectators just know how the game works by instinct. Smilegate’s 2D mobile tank battle game Super Tank Blitz works in a similar way. Whoever destroys the opponent’s tank first wins, either by firing artillery shells or pushing it off a cliff. It is also highly ingenious, as Super Tank Blitz allows users to

Thanks to President Moon Jae-in’s push for the 5G network, Korean chemical companies are getting an unexpected boost as demand has surged for aramid, a material used for bulletproof vests and a vital ingredient for 5G cables. As part of Moon’s Digital New Deal initiative, the nation’s major telecommunications firms -- SK Telecom, KT, LG U+ and SK Broadband -- said last month they would invest 25 trillion won ($21 billion) to establish a nationwide 5G network by the first ha

Samsung Biologics on Tuesday launched a proprietary cell line expression technology called S-CHOice, intent to improve its contract development services by shortening the drug development period for clients and lowering their drug product costs. 　Through an online ceremony streamed via YouTube, the company’s vice president of contract development business, Yang Eun-young, and director of cell line development, John Gill, introduced S-CHOice, which the company will offer to “all clie

Posco International and the Rural Development Administration will jointly support farmers in Myanmar and strengthen the value chain of food projects through public-private cooperation, the company said Wednesday. The nation’s largest trading company said it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the RDA to improve the value chain of Myanmar’s rice business, ranging from variety, cultivation, processing and distribution. The ceremony, held in Posco International’s Se

Seven Korean companies, including Coupang and LG Chem, have narrowed their revenue gap with global No. 1 companies over the past five years, data showed Wednesday. Local corporate tracker CEOScore surveyed revenues of the world’s No. 1 companies and No. 1 firms in Korea in their respective fields from 2014 to 2019. The results showed that Korean companies narrowed the sales gap with the global No. 1 companies compared to five years ago in seven industries: including chemicals, pharmace

The new chief of the European Chamber of Commerce in South Korea believes there are many opportunities for Korean and European companies to cooperate in sustainability areas in the future. “In Europe, sustainability, particularly environment, has been a strong focus for many years and there are many technologies developed related to clean energy. I can see many opportunities for cooperation between European and Korean companies in the areas,” said Dirk Lukat, a new chairperson of

From the beginning of 2017 until the end of May of this year, a total of 23,219 foreign nationals have purchased apartments in South Korea, with the number of units reaching 23,167. The data was released by the National Tax Service as it announced plans to launch a tax probe against 42 foreigners who own multiple homes with suspicions of evading taxes. The government has been tightening rules and imposing higher taxes in their attempt to curb housing prices in Seoul.  (khnews@heraldcorp

Booking Holdings Inc. is the latest online travel giant to eliminate thousands of jobs after the coronavirus pandemic hammered the industry. As much as 25 percent of employees at Booking.com, the company’s biggest business, will be cut, the company said in a statement Tuesday. That’s about 4,000 workers.  The reductions will be implemented globally. Chief Executive Officer Glenn Fogel discussed the move during a video call with workers, saying the past five months represe