SK Biopharm said March 17 that its joint venture, Mentis Care, has started a joint study with Emory University School of Medicine to develop an artificial intelligence model to detect seizures and predict them in real time.
The two-year project aims to build a general-purpose AI model that can be used across settings, from precision hospital equipment to wearable devices.
The partners plan to develop a transformer-based EEG foundation model designed to perform consistently across different environments, from the standard clinical 10-20 EEG system to reduced-channel wearable EEG. The goal is to establish the technical basis for continuous epilepsy monitoring in everyday life.
The work will focus on five areas: large-scale data curation and a standardized preprocessing pipeline; a high-performance seizure-detection foundation model; validation across patient groups and recording environments; adaptation to reduced-channel wearable EEG systems; and expansion of a real-time pre-seizure prediction module.
SK Biopharm said the research is at an early stage, and any eventual product would require further development, clinical trials, and review and approval by relevant regulators.
Samjin Pharmaceutical said March 17 it has hired Lee Ye-jin, a veteran with more than 20 years of experience across global drugmakers overseeing marketing, sales and market access, as its new head of marketing.
Lee graduated from Chung-Ang University’s College of Pharmacy and held key roles at Janssen Korea, including medical representative and product manager, as well as market access work involving strategies for health insurance listing and appropriate drug pricing, the company said.
Samjin said Lee also served as a Bayer headquarters-certified training manager, designing product education programs to strengthen the clinical expertise of sales staff and introducing and establishing patient-centered sales techniques in the Korean market.
Hecto Group said March 17 it will run a two-day blood donation campaign for employees from March 19 to 20 under its “Hecto&” initiative. The company described the program as an ESG effort to promote social value and a sustainable culture of giving, now in its ninth round.
About 160 employees from key affiliates have signed up, including IT-based information services company Hecto Innovation, fintech firm Hecto Financial, data specialist Hecto Data and global healthcare company Hecto Healthcare, it said. Hecto Group said it will provide participants with Hecto Healthcare’s “O2 Booster Fresh” product and delivery gift certificates to encourage voluntary participation.
Blood donation certificates collected through the campaign will be delivered to the Korea Pediatric Cancer Foundation, the company said.
Medytox said March 17 that a comparative study supporting the heat stability of its non-animal, liquid botulinum toxin product Innotox was published in the international aesthetic surgery journal “Aesthetic Surgery Journal Open Forum.”
The study compared Innotox with a powdered toxin product under conditions meant to resemble combination procedures using energy-based aesthetic devices such as high-intensity focused ultrasound and radiofrequency. The products were exposed to 60 degrees Celsius for 25 minutes. The powdered comparator uses human serum albumin as an excipient.
Based on changes in potency measured by mouse median lethal dose (LD50), Innotox maintained nearly the same titer after heat exposure, Medytox said. Under the same conditions, the powdered toxin products showed potency declines of up to 51%, it said.
The research team suggested polysorbate 20 and L-methionine in Innotox may contribute to resistance against protein denaturation and high-temperature heat exposure.Gachon University Gil Medical Center said March 17 it signed a memorandum of understanding with the Korea Institute of Drug Safety and Risk Management on March 16 to cooperate on medication safety research based on health care data.
The hospital said the agreement follows its participation in a project to expand a common data model and is intended to build a cooperative framework and strengthen capabilities for drug safety analysis research.
The signing ceremony was held in the Women’s Cancer Center conference room with hospital President Kim Woo-kyung and Research Vice President Seonwoo Woong-sang, along with institute President Son Soo-jung and Acting Headquarters Director Jeong Hyeon-ju, the hospital said.
Under the agreement, the two sides plan to cooperate in areas including information exchange on the use and standardization of health care data, information sharing for analysis of drug safety information, and exchanges in education, research, technology and personnel.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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