The service began last year to eliminate the need for complainants to bring evidence to investigators in person or mail it themselves.
After a consumer files a report, the integrated reporting center for illegal and substandard foods at the Korea Food Safety Information Service arranges the pickup. The complainant packs the foreign object and related evidence, such as product packaging, and leaves it at a chosen location for a courier to collect.
The free pickup service, which can be requested at the time of reporting, was selected as an exemplary proactive administrative case by the Office for Government Policy Coordination last year. A total of 1,602 cases were handled from March 17 to Nov. 30 last year.
Chong Kun Dang said in a March 11 filing that it received MFDS approval for its type 2 diabetes treatment Duvie-M Pol SR, about a year after applying in April last year.
The drug is intended for adults with type 2 diabetes for whom combination therapy with lobeglitazone, empagliflozin and metformin is appropriate.
The company said it plans to launch the product in South Korea within the year.
Celltrion said it has begun a full-scale European launch of its liquid formulation of infliximab for autoimmune diseases, sold as Remsima, which it described as the only such liquid formulation available worldwide.
Celltrion’s Nordic unit said March 11 it won national tenders in Denmark and Norway for the intravenous liquid formulation of Remsima.
In Norway, sales began immediately after the award, and the company will supply the product through January 2028. Celltrion said it expects to secure about 35% of the local infliximab IV market.
Celltrion said it is the only company globally to hold and have registered patents related to a liquid infliximab formulation.
Compared with a lyophilized formulation, the liquid version cuts preparation time by about 50% and reduces labor and consumables costs during dosing preparation by about 20%, the company said.
Celltrion said it plans to expand the rollout across Europe this year, starting with the Nordics and extending to France, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic.
SK Chemical said March 11 it launched Joins F tablets (JoinsF) 300 mg, a higher-strength version of its osteoarthritis drug Joins.
JoinsF increases the active ingredient from 200 mg to 300 mg, or 1.5 times the earlier dose. With a typical daily dose of 600 mg, the new product is designed for twice-daily dosing, compared with three times a day for the 200 mg tablets.
Because osteoarthritis is commonly associated with aging and often requires long-term medication, the company said reducing dosing frequency should ease the burden on patients.
SK Chemical also said patient costs are expected to fall. The reimbursement-listed ceiling price for JoinsF 300 mg, listed on March 1, is 488 won per tablet. Based on the recommended regimen, the daily cost is 976 won, about 16% lower than the 1,170 won daily cost for Joins 200 mg.
The company said the tablet is only about 5% to 10% larger than before despite the higher content, and its thickness was reduced to minimize discomfort when swallowing.
Park Hyun-sun, head of business at SK Chemical, said, "Osteoarthritis is an area where professional treatment is essential to relieve symptoms," adding, "We will continue efforts to improve convenience by listening closely to patients and actively reflecting feedback from the field."
Researchers at Seoul National University Hospital said they developed a machine-learning prediction model to identify, before transplant, pediatric patients at high risk of veno-occlusive disease (VOD), a potentially fatal complication.
The hospital said March 11 that a team led by professors Hong Kyung-taek and Kang Hyung-jin of pediatrics and Han Do-hyun of translational medicine analyzed 720 types of blood proteins in 51 pediatric patients who received high-intensity preconditioning chemotherapy ahead of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
In the analysis, 25 patients who did not develop VOD had higher levels of GCLC, a liver detoxification enzyme, even before chemotherapy. By contrast, 26 patients who developed the disease had lower levels of the enzyme, and significantly lower expression of FBP1, a protein involved in maintaining liver function, indicating greater vulnerability to liver toxicity.
High-intensity chemotherapy used in stem cell transplants for children with serious illnesses such as leukemia can damage small liver blood vessels and trigger VOD. The condition occurs in about 15% to 30% of patients, and when severe, the mortality rate can reach as high as 80%, the hospital said.
Hong said, "Patients with veno-occlusive disease showed distinctly different blood proteome patterns even before chemotherapy," adding that the identified patterns could help clinicians screen high-risk patients early, develop prevention strategies and carry out safer transplant treatment.
Researchers at CHA University’s Bundang CHA Hospital said they confirmed real-world clinical effectiveness of combination immunotherapy with nivolumab and ipilimumab in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.
The hospital said March 11 that a team led by oncology professors Jeon Hong-jae and Kim Jung-sun analyzed 116 patients treated with the nivolumab-ipilimumab combination at six medical institutions in four Asian locations: South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore.
About half of the patients had previously been treated with atezolizumab and bevacizumab, while the rest had no prior immunotherapy. The team compared treatment response, survival outcomes and immune-related adverse events based on prior immunotherapy exposure.
Across all patients, the objective response rate was about 31%, the researchers said. The response rate was about 42% among patients without prior immunotherapy and about 20% among those previously treated with atezolizumab and bevacizumab. Among responders, the median duration of response was about 24 months.
Patients who experienced immune-related adverse events, including thyroid dysfunction, had longer progression-free survival and overall survival than those who did not, the team said, suggesting such events may serve as a clinical indicator for predicting response.
Jeon said the findings could provide important evidence for developing patient-tailored treatment strategies and sequential immunotherapy approaches.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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