Seventy-four percent of doctors in South Korea take brands into account when prescribing drugs to patients, a report analyzing behavior and perceptions in the country’s medical sector showed Thursday.　 The report was compiled by the Seoul-based medical industry research firm Medigate, which surveyed 1,000 doctors nationwide about their prescription decisions as well as perceptions of 20 Korean pharmaceutical companies with the highest revenues in 2016. Medigate found that 74 percent of the respo

SK holdings C&C, the internet technology solutions unit of South Korea’s SK Group, on Wednesday officially launched Aibril, the Korean language version of IBM’s artificially intelligent cognitive data computing platform Watson.Aibril, developed jointly by SK holdings C&C and IBM under an exclusive partnership, offers Watson’s AI computing capabilities in Korean. Models introduce a smart chatbot developed based on SK holdings C&C’s AI-based cognitive computing platform Aibril during a launch even

BAYER KICKS OFF STARTUP PROGRAM -- German pharmaceutical giant Bayer kicked off Tuesday its Grants4Apps Accelerator program, which aims to support innovative digital health care startups worldwide. This year, the company selected four startups to receive 50,000 euros ($59,400) in funding and mentorship from the Bayer headquarters on business development and strategizing. This included South Korea’s Sky Labs, which developed a heart rhythm detection wearable device to monitor signs of atrial fibr

Samsung SDS, the internet technology solutions arm of South Korea’s Samsung Group, on Tuesday launched its new artificial intelligence platform for enterprises Brity, joining the global race to develop AI-powered solutions to enhance workflow efficiency.Brity is a conversational AI assistant, or a chatbot solution, which understands and processes natural language. It can converse with users in both written and spoken form to respond to different requests as needed. 　Powered by deep learning algo

Naver expressed regrets Monday over the South Korean antitrust watchdog’s decision to add the company as well as its founder Lee Hae-jin to a new corporate watch list, citing plans to review legal actions to challenge the FTC’s interpretation. 　South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission on Sunday designated Korea’s biggest portal website operator Naver as a “large corporation” with founder Lee as its effective owner, a move which requires the Korean internet giant and Lee to follow new antitrust regula

TissueGene, the US-based biotechnology subsidiary of South Korea’s Kolon Group, has received the green light from the local bourse regulator to begin its public listing procedures on the Kosdaq.　The Korea Exchange announced Thursday it has approved TissueGene’s preliminary application for listing on the Kosdaq, kick-starting the firm’s initial public offering process.The news prompted shares of Kospi-traded Kolon to surge by 5.27 percent from the previous day to close at 69,900 won ($62.30) on F

German display materials maker Merck on Friday unveiled a new textile facade concept combining organic photovoltaics and organic light-emitting diodes technologies at the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism. The facade concept was prepared by Merck in partnership with OledWorks, OPVIUS and South Korean chemicals company Kolon. German architects Nikolaus Hirsch and Michel Muller as well as New York-based Thai artist Rirkrit Tiravanija designed the work as part of their ongoing project cal

A majority of those who play free mobile games turned out to be indifferent to in-app adds in the form of banners or videos, considering the benefits earned in exchange of watching them, according to an industry report.Around 73 percent of gamers are happy with the ad-funded model of mobile app games, according to the “Mobile Games Research 2017” report from London-based market research firm 2VC, commissioned by the Facebook Audience Network.The report was based on more than 6,000 online intervi

Johnson & Johnson Innovation, the strategic venture arm of the US health care company, is looking to recruit promising health care and biopharma technology startups in South Korea to its inaugural venture acceleration program.J&J Innovation Asia Pacific said Thursday that it had partnered with the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Korea Health Industry Development Institute to launch the Seoul Innovation QuickFire Challenge.The program seeks to attract early stage innovation and solutions in

South Korea must adopt more rigorous regulations over the development, possession and management of botulinum toxin used for anti-wrinkle treatments, neurotoxin expert Eric A. Johnson has warned.　Johnson, a bacteriology professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who co-developed the world’s first botulinum toxin for therapeutic and cosmetic use, said that lax regulation of botulinum toxins could hurt Korea’s global reputation in the industry.　“My understanding is that the same sort of rigo

Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccine development subsidiary of French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi, said Tuesday it would officially launch its new quadrivalent influenza vaccine in South Korea next month.Sanofi’s four-strain flu vaccine, Vaxigrip Tetra, is able to protect against four strains of influenza -- two influenza strains (H1N1, H3N2) and two influenza B strains (Yamagata, Victoria).According to Sanofi Pasteur, Vaxigrip Tetra is an expanded version of Vaxigrip, its three-way flu vaccine currently

Hanmi Pharmaceutical shares soared 7.29 percent from the previous trading day to a close of 397,500 won on Monday, fueled by an improved development outlook for the firm’s drugs that were out-licensed to global companies.Janssen, Johnson & Johnson’s drug development subsidiary, recently obtained the US Food and Drug Administration’s approval to carry out a new set of phase 1 clinical trials for Hanmi-developed drug candidate JNJ-64565111.Janssen had suddenly suspended the trials of Hanmi’s drug

South Korea will kickstart procedures to install a free, ultrafast public Wi-Fi system within Seoul’s subways by 2019 this week, resuming the state-led project that had been pushed back over procedural transparency issues.The Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Seoul Metro Corp., which operates the city’s subway lines 1-8, is set to start accepting bids from companies for Seoul’s metro system telecom service improvement project from Monday.The government had initially sought to complete the pr

South Korean mobile game giant Netmarble Games is stepping up its social contribution efforts to foster a healthy gaming culture and development community in Korea.　Netmarble currently operates 31 game culture experience centers across the country’s special education schools for the disabled as part of its 10-year-old social benefit program. It has also been holding an e-sports gaming tournament for disabled students since 2009. Last year, the Korean mobile gamemaker newly launched the “Netmarbl

South Korea’s Netmarble Games said Thursday that its mobile game “Lineage II: Revolution” had become the top-grossing app in Japan’s Apple App Store, just 18 hours after its official launch in the country. 　It is the first time that a Korea-made mobile game has taken the No. 1 spot in app revenue ranking in Japan’s App Store, marking a milestone for Korea’s mobile game business.Netmarble released “Lineage II: Revolution,” a mobile role-playing game based on the storyline of NCSoft’s popular PC o