South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) will head an international team of regulatory experts from 19 drug agencies worldwide, including the U.S. FDA and China National Institute for Food and Drug Control (NIFDC), to draft an international standard for artificial intelligence (AI)-based software.

In efforts to strengthen cooperation between the U.S. and South Korea’s life sciences sector, industry organizations like Biocom California and KoreaBIO are helping foster cross-border collaboration as Korea looks to ramp up the so-called Bio Economy 2.0. KoreaBIO, which stands for the Korea Biotechnology Industry Organization, in its latest feat welcomed a trade delegation run by the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp. and the World Trade Center San Diego in November 2023, helping bolster cooperation between companies in Korea and in the San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico, regions.

Lunit Inc. is the latest South Korean firm to gain the U.S. FDA’s 510(k) clearance for Lunit Insight DBT, its artificial intelligence (AI)-powered breast cancer diagnostic tool that analyzes digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) images, boosting its efforts to enter the U.S. market. The company also reported that it secured $150 million in a public offering.

Serial biotech-founding venture fund Flagship Pioneering Inc., most noted for launching Moderna Inc. in 2012, is crossing into the Asia Pacific (APAC) region and setting up a regional office in Singapore, a move that comes on the heels of its entry into the U.K. earlier this year.

Astrazeneca plc will pay up to $2 billion for Eccogene Co. Ltd.’s oral weight loss candidate, ECC-5004, as big and small pharma players alike work to gain ground in the burgeoning obesity market where Eli Lilly and Co. scored the latest U.S. FDA approval of Zepbound (tirzepatide).