South Korea A Korean research team at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) have developed a cunning technology for treatments that attack cancer cells.   Treatments that travel through the body to deliver a cancer destroying substance are hindered by hundreds of proteins that stick to the drug delivery system…

Korea From Wednesday 31st October to Friday 2nd November, Seoul hosted the KoNECT-MFDS International conference, promoting South Korea’s clinical research capabilities on a global platform. The fourth of its kind, the conference was based around the main theme of embracing change in clinical research. The conference was organised by KoNECT –…

Korea Celltrion Healthcare, the marketing arm of the biopharmaceutical company Celltrion won a huge deal in France last Friday (2nd November 2018) with big tenders for Herzuma, a biosimilar of Roche’s blockbuster breast cancer treatment Herceptin.   Herzuma, with indications for positive metastatic breast cancer, early cancer, and metastatic gastric cancer…

Korea Korea is fast becoming a big player in the pharmaceutical industry, especially within the biotech arena. With 4% of the total pipelines in the world, the country is showing strong R&D capabilities and fierce ambitions for growth. Korea is now the 3rd largest pharma region in Asia, with a forecasted…

Korea Korean Pharma company, Hanmi has won orphan drug status this week from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for HM43239, a drug for the treatment of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML).   The endorsement of FDA’s Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) — invented to smooth the development of therapies for life-threatening…

Japan Pharma Giant Johnson & Johnson (J&J) are set to swallow Ci:z, the Japanese skincare and cosmetics firm.    In a move to really establish themselves within the Asian skin care market, J&J will shell out 230 billion Japanese yen ($2.05 billion) in cash to take over the share of Ci:z…

China In 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping launched the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) initiative, corralling the two Special Administrative Regions (SARs) of Hong Kong and Macao with Guangdong, one of the richest of China’s 34 provinces. While the official government blueprint was due to be unveiled in mid-2018, escalating…

China Professor Richard Barker, founder of New Medicine Partners reflects on China’s very different approach to the biopharma industry.   Napoleon once said: “China is a sleeping giant. Let her sleep, for when she wakes she will shake the world.” Well, in biotech, she is now wide awake I’ve recently returned from…

regulation Chinese ecommerce behemoths Alibaba and JD.com are being used to buy and sell tens of thousands of prescription medicines, skirting regulations in what is a legal grey area. According to a recent Financial Times report, dozens of listings from third party vendors – mainly pharmacies – for drugs such as…

Cannabis Following the death penalty handed to Muhammad Lukman, a 29-year old man who was convicted of possessing, processing and distributing medicinal cannabis oil, public outcry has caused Malaysian officials to reconsider the punishment.   Muhammad Lukman was arrested in 2015 for possessing 3.1 litres of cannabis oil, 279 g of compressed cannabis and 1.4 kg of…

regulation The stakes are high, and the outcome is uncertain in one of the largest Pharma M&A deals ever. Takeda’s proposed acquisition of Shire seems to have it all: The combined entity becoming one of the largest global Pharma groups, enabling Takeda to become a truly global operation and allowing Shire’s…

Diversity Ai Hua Ong, Company Group Chairman, Asia Pacific, The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson.   There is a clear correlation between an inclusive culture and innovation Creating a diverse workforce and an inclusive culture is key to an organisation’s success in today’s and tomorrow’s world. Organisations large and…