Kakao Group, which operates messenger app KakaoTalk, has established two new blockchain entities in Singapore in an effort to expand its blockchain platform abroad and chase after its biggest competitor, Naver. According to local media reports Monday, Kakao recently founded the nonprofit Klaytn Foundation and global accelerator unit Krust in the city-state. With the two at the forefront, the South Korean internet giant will pursue the globalization of its public blockchain project, Klaytn,

Samsung SDI may build a battery plant in central Illinois, according to a report by Reuters on Friday. The news came after Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin said in a press conference that there were discussions to bring in a “major Samsung battery facility” during their meeting with South Korean delegations this week. While the decision has not been finalized, said Durbin, the facility will possibly be next to electric-vehicle start-up Rivian, which said in April it would source EV batt

South Korean pharmaceutical giant Celltrion on Friday said the company’s operating profit fell 10.2 percent in the second quarter through an earnings report. The firm’s operating profit stood at 163.2 billion won during the April-June period, down 10.2 percent from the same period last year. Its sales inched up 0.7 percent to 431.8 billion won. The company said its second-quarter revenue went slightly up, backed by increased overseas sales of the company’s infliximab bios

South Korea has signed a contract with US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer to purchase 30 million doses of the drugmaker’s COVID-19 vaccine for use in 2022, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said Friday. The deal is part of Seoul’s plan to procure 50 million vaccine booster shots for the country’s population of 52 million, according to KDCA Director Jeong Eun-kyeong. Pfizer’s first batch will ship out in the first quarter of next year, the KDCA added. Under t

South Korean drugmaker Samsung Bioepis said Friday that global sales of five major biosimilar products increased 30 percent on-year in the first half of this year. Sales of the five biosimilar products during the first half reached $166 million, from $128 million from the same period a year earlier, according to an earnings report of its global pharmaceutical partner Organon International, a spinoff of US-based Merck. The five products are etanercept, infliximab, adalimumab, trastuzumab and

Lee appears intent on immediate return to action, after heading to Samsung headquarters directly after release

South Korean pharmaceutical giant Celltrion said Thursday that the company’s COVID-19 antibody treatment has won an emergency approval from the Brazilian government. According to Celltrion, the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency gave emergency use authorization to the company’s COVID-19 treatment Regkirona, or CT-P59. The approval was based on results from all three phases of the clinical study of COVID-19 treatment Rekirona, as well as preclinical studies that suggest the effic

GC Pharma on Thursday reported positive top-line results from the phase 3 clinical trial of its immunoglobulin product GC5107. The clinical study results have been published in the peer-reviewed journal Frontiers in Immunology, the company said. The phase 3 study was conducted on 49 patients who were diagnosed with primary immunodeficiency. The patients aged between 3-70 received infusions of GC5107 doses every 21 or 28 days for 12 months at 17 medical institutions in the US and Canada. Th

South Korea's exports of information and communication technology (ICT) products hit a record high in July, data showed Wednesday, rising for the 14th consecutive month thanks to global demand for chips and displays. Outbound shipments of ICT products stood at $19.5 billion last month, up 30.2 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Ministry of Science and ICT. The figure marks a fresh high for July after reaching $18.5 billion in 2018. Imports reached $11.32 billion last mon

Samsung Electro-Mechanics, a component supplier of Samsung Electronics, said Thursday it has developed two key multi-layer ceramic capacitors for autonomous driving systems. One is the smaller than any MLCCs currently available for advanced driver assist systems, or ADAS, measuring 0.6 millimeters in length and 0.3 mm across, the firm said. The other boasts storage of 47 microfarads. The company expects the new products to be widely used for self-driving cars in the foreseeable future. T

Company bets on foldable market growth as challenges mount from Xiaomi and rivals

CJ OliveNetworks, an IT solution provider of CJ Group, said Wednesday that the company succeeded in establishing a network using public cloud and software-based WAN in Germany in what it said was an industry first. Known as SD-WAN, the software-defined network enables establishing virtual over-lay networks by connecting with a variety of networks like MPLS, internet and 4G, providing customers with flexibility and efficiency. The CJ affiliate adopted SD-WAN to the public cloud systems used

Strong demand for laptops continues amid COVID-19 pandemic; outlook uncertain in second half of 2021

South Korean pharmaceutical giant Celltrion is pushing for a broader use of its COVID-19 treament, Regkirona, both here and abroad. Presently, Regkirona, or CT-P59, is allowed to be used on patients with severe symptoms or high risk groups with mild symptoms only. The company said Wednesday that it has asked the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety for permission to use on COVID-19 patients aged over 12, with mild or severe symptoms. Celltrion said it has filed clinical data from its phase 3 cli

LG Electronics announced Wednesday that the company will join the Business Ambition for 1.5°C, an international alliance of companies for carbon emission reductions. The global campaign led by the UN, calls on businesses to set targets to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The collaborative action, which is in line with the Paris Agreement, also seeks for net zero carbon by 2050, the company added. LG Electronics is the first South Korean fi