South Korean pharmaceutical company Handok announced Friday that GX-H9, a long-acting recombinant human growth hormone it co-developed with Genexine, has won orphan drug designation from the country's Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. Handok said the designation for GX-H9, which it received on Monday this week, will help the company speed up the launch of the medicine. In Korea, when a drug qualifies for the orphan drug designation, the drug is eligible for conditional approval based on res

South Korean retail giant Lotte Group Chair Shin Dong-bin is stepping up efforts to increase the group’s artificial intelligence capability. Lotte Group, on Friday, announced that the company held a conference on AI technology at Lotte World Tower on Thursday. Around 110 officials from the group and its affiliates joined the conference, including Lotte Group Chair Shin, his eldest son and executive Vice President Shin Yoo-yeol, and chief executive officers of the group’s key business

Korean petrochemicals firms are downsizing their businesses as they are grappling with lower demand and higher supply of products from China, according to industry sources Thursday. Lotte Chemical, South Korea’s leading petrochemicals company, has reportedly embarked on the process of selling its Malaysian unit Lotte Chemical Titan Holdings. In addition, its domestic rival LG Chem is said to be in talks with Kuwait Petroleum Corp. to sell a stake in its naphtha cracking center in Yeosu, So

Hyundai Engineering & Construction announced Wednesday that the company signed business agreements with US energy equipment supplier Holtec International, and with UK construction firms Balfour Beatty and Mott MacDonald, in a bid to join the UK government’s small modular reactor project. The UK government plans to expand nuclear energy capacity to 24 gigawatts by 2050, through building a fleet of SMRs. Holtec is one of the six developers that have been shortlisted to win the project. Holte

Just a few years ago, the streets of Yeouido, Seoul's main finance and investment banking district normally full of white-collar workers during weekdays, were quiet during weekends. But now, the high-profile opening of The Hyundai Seoul, the largest retail mall in Korea's capital, has reinvigorated the area, making it a shopping mecca for those in their 20s and 30s in only three years. “I can see more people, particularly younger people, coming to this office district in Yeouido

Hugel, a South Korean botulinum toxin company, announced Monday that the US Food and Drug Administration has granted marketing approval for the company’s botulinum toxin, Letybo. Hugel expects to launch Letybo in the US in mid-2024. "The Canada launch of Letybo last year laid a solid foundation for our entry into the North American market, setting the stage for the planned US launch," an official from Hugel said. With the latest approval, Hugel has become the first and only Korea

South Korea's alcoholic beverage industry has been embracing quickly changing trend cycles -- from wine to whiskey cocktails and cognac -- with rising demand from young consumers to try new types of drinks. The next type of alcohol that is expected to boom here is tequila, according to industry sources. According to Samjeong KPMG’s report, South Korea’s wine consumption decreased significantly last year. The value of wine imports dropped 9.6 percent from $560 million in 2021 to

Korean energy and environmental solutions provider SK Ecoplant said Thursday that the company will work together with the China State Construction Engineering Corp. on a 2.6 trillion won ($1.9 billion) green hydrogen project in Egypt. SK Ecoplant, CSCEC and the Egyptian government signed a memorandum of understanding in Cairo on Wednesday, the company added. Under the project, SK Ecoplant and China’s largest construction company will establish solar panels and wind turbines in Egypt, which

Daewoong Pharmaceutical, South Korea’s leading pharmaceutical company, is expected to appoint Vice President Park Seong-soo as its new co-CEO during its annual shareholders meeting in March, according to industry sources Wednesday. “Daewoong aims to accelerate the expansion of its overseas businesses with Park's appointment,” a source familiar with the internal matter said on condition of anonymity. Park has held diverse positions, handling global issues since he became th

Merck’s immuno-oncology drug Keytruda, one of the best-selling drugs in the world, topped drug sales in Korea for the second consecutive year in 2023, according to market tracker IQVIA on Tuesday. Keytruda’s sales in Korea came to some 399 billion won ($300 million) in 2023, up 159 billion won from the previous year, while global sales of Keytruda hit $25 billion, making it the top-selling drug worldwide. “Keytruda’s success in the country came as the drug can be prescrib

Hyundai Engineering & Construction shares jumped Monday as the company has been tapped as the preferred bidder for a $14 billion worth nuclear plant project in Bulgaria. The builder's shares ended at some 34,000 won ($25.5) on Monday, around 2 percent higher than last week. On Sunday, the company said that it has been selected as the preferred bidder for a nuclear plant project to build two nuclear reactors, with a combined capacity of 2,300 megawatts (MW), in Kozloduy, located around 2

South Korean conglomerates are expanding birth incentive programs to help boost the country’s record-low fertility rate amid mixed expectations about their effectiveness. Underwear maker Ssangbangwool announced Thursday that the company will provide up to 100 million won ($75,000) to employees who are expecting babies. Under the company's birth incentive scheme, an employee can receive 30 million won for the first child, another 30 million won for the second and 40 million won for the

Kolmar Korea, a cosmetics original design manufacturer, said Thursday it has found a microbiome that can slow down skin aging induced by sun exposure for the first time, which could be a breakthrough innovation in the anti-aging skincare industry. Photoaging refers to the characteristic changes to the skin caused by cumulative sun damage over a lifetime of exposure. Recent research has found that the skin microbiome could serve as a potential tool to prevent and treat skin photoaging. Kolmar Kor

South Korea is confronting a deepening shortage of cephalosporins, a commonly prescribed class of antibiotics used to treat a range of bacterial infections, as pharmaceutical firms discontinue product lines due to unprofitability and growing raw materials costs. “As the number of local and overseas pharmaceutical companies have recently halted or downsized cephalosporins production here, it has become increasingly difficult to get them,” an industry source from one of the largest pha

Eight out of ten construction firms here said they are experiencing difficulties in paying debt interest, according to a local survey released on Monday. According to the Federation of Korean Industries' survey involving 102 construction companies among the top 500 construction firms, 76.4 percent of the respondents said they are experiencing difficulties paying debt interest with their operating profit. Only 17.7 percent said they can cover debt interest with their profits. “Not only