A team at South Korea’s Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) developed a new technique to easily visualize viruses using an optical microscope.
Semiconductors chips, a key component in many medical devices, continue to be in short supply as COVID-19-driven supply chain disruptions continue. The shortage comes at the worst possible time, with demand for the chips on an upward trend. Nano-x Imaging Ltd.’s (Nanox) solution to the shortage was to open a semiconductor chip fabrication plant in Yongin, South Korea, to produce Nanox.source, a semiconductor chip that replaces the filament in the analog X-ray tube.
Bridge Biotherapeutics Inc. has signed an exclusive option-to-license agreement for Cellionbiomed Inc.’s preclinical ion channel modulator, BBT-301, thus adding a second idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) candidate to its fibrotic diseases portfolio. The company hopes to enter the clinic with the drug in the U.S. by the end of 2022.
Everest Medicines Ltd. has acquired rights to develop and commercialize Nefecon (budesonide) for the treatment of primary IgA nephropathy in South Korea from Calliditas Therapeutics AB.
Med-tech startups looking to enter the South Korean market might do so with the 2021 Global Inbound Membership Bridge to Korea, or B2K 2021 program, run by Shinhan Financial Group Co. Ltd.’s Shinhan Square Bridge Incheon. The organization fosters startups with business scale-up services, new market development, partnering and investment assistance. Six med-tech and digital health firms were selected in November 2021: Aevice Health Pte. Ltd., Fairphonic Pte. Ltd., NDR Medical Technology Pte. Ltd., Scanderm Pro LLC, Sqin and Vertliner Private Co.
Bridge Biotherapeutics Inc. has signed an exclusive option-to-license agreement for Cellionbiomed Inc.’s preclinical ion channel modulator, BBT-301, thus adding a second idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) candidate to its fibrotic diseases portfolio. The company hopes to enter the clinic with the drug in the U.S. by the end of 2022.
On the success of last year’s establishment of a global mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub in South Africa, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced its next step Feb. 23: the creation of a global biomanufacturing training hub in South Korea that will serve low- and middle-income countries wanting to produce biologics, such as vaccines, insulin, monoclonal antibodies and cancer treatments.
South Korea’s Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) has completed a preclinical study for a noninvasive therapy for Alzheimer’s disease. The "ultrasound-based gamma entrainment” technique involves syncing up gamma waves, or brain waves above 30 Hz, with an external oscillation of a given frequency. This happens naturally by exposing a subject to a repetitive stimulus, such as sound, light, or mechanical vibrations.
South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) has greenlighted Novavax Inc.’s Nuvaxovid, making it the first protein-based COVID-19 vaccine to be approved for commercial use in the country. The regulatory win for Novavax adds to emergency use authorizations (EUA) for the product, also known as NVX-CoV2373, in India, Indonesia and the Philippines, as well as an emergency use listing from the World Health Organization. On Jan. 12, the company said it expects to submit an EUA request to the FDA after one month.
Easyendo Surgical Inc. has won the South Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety’s (MFDS) latest breakthrough device designation for its robotized ureteroscope. The device, currently known as Easyuretero, is the first of its type to be developed in South Korea. The next goal for Easyendo will be regulatory approval, said the MFDS. Daejeon, South Korea-based Easyendo is already working towards winning that approval. “We are now preparing to start clinical trials in South Korea, and discussing the start date and scope of the trials with MFDS,” an Easyendo spokesperson told BioWorld.
