Company to Gain Deeper Insights Into Customers’ Lifestyle and Usage Patterns and Accelerate LG ThinQ AI Home Business

SEOUL, South Korea, July 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — LG Electronics (LG) recently acquired an 80 percent stake in Athom, an industry-leading smart home platform company based in Enschede, Netherlands. The agreement includes plans to acquire the remaining 20 percent within the next three years. This strategic move aims to enhance LG’s connectivity within open smart home ecosystems. By integrating Athom’s capabilities with LG’s Affectionate Intelligence technology, LG aspires to lead the AI-driven home innovation era.

LG plans to integrate Athom’s extensive connectivity – which links thousands of appliances, sensors and lighting devices – with the generative AI-enabled LG ThinQ platform. This integration aims to create an AI home that delivers optimal space solutions by gaining a deeper understanding of the customer. In LG’s AI home, customers will engage with generative AI, which will manage appliances and IoT devices to create a personalized environment tailored to their preferences.

LG envisions expanding the differentiated customer experience of AI homes to various spaces where customers spend their time, such as commercial spaces and mobility environments, ultimately realizing and advancing the concept of ‘Intelligent Space.’

Athom is a technology company that sells the smart home hub ‘Homey,’ which connects with home appliances and IoT devices, and also offers cloud subscription services. Founded in 2014, ‘Homey’ has expanded primarily in Europe over the past decade, gaining a loyal customer base of hundreds of thousands of users. As of 2023, Homey devices are available in Australia, Singapore, the US and Canada, in addition to Europe. 

Athom has developed its own hub and OS to create an independent smart home ecosystem. Its flagship product, Homey Pro, can connect to more than 50,000 devices and supports various connection methods, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Matter and Thread, making it highly versatile and open.

The Homey App Store, managed by Athom, offers around 1,000 applications for connecting and controlling home devices from brands such as Philips Hue and IKEA. Many of these applications are based on official partnerships, alongside a large number of apps developed by the Homey community. This community of developers actively contributes to Athom’s open platform, continuously expanding the range of brands and devices that can be connected to the hub. Users can easily create a smart home environment by downloading apps from the store and linking their devices.

LG is poised to significantly enhance the scalability required for implementing AI homes, aiming to achieve the highest industry standards. This will be accomplished by integrating its LG ThinQ platform’s smart home technology with Athom’s open ecosystem and IoT device connectivity. The acquisition of Athom is particularly noteworthy, as it will enable LG to incorporate third-party devices and services into its ecosystem. This integration will provide LG with deeper insights into customer usage patterns and expedite the delivery of personalized services.

“The acquisition of Athom is a cornerstone for our AI home business,” said Jung Ki-hyun, executive vice president and head of LG’s Platform Business Center. “By leveraging the synergy between the two companies, we will expand our open ecosystem and external integration services, aiming to provide customers with more diverse and multidimensional space experiences.”

Even after the acquisition, Athom will continue to operate independently, maintaining its business operations and branding. This strategy is designed to maximize Athom’s growth potential and unique strengths while fostering synergies in business, research and development capabilities, and platform utilization.

LG’s introduction of the AI home, which integrates Athom’s open smart home platform with its own AI technology, underscores the company’s commitment to transitioning from a hardware-focused to a software-based platform business. In 2021, LG expanded its TV business from hardware to software by entering the TV platform market with its webOS platform. To support this shift, LG acquired Alphonso, a US-based global technology company specializing in television media, machine learning and big-data analytics. Alphonso now operates as LG Ad Solutions, a core component of the webOS content and service business.

LG aims to establish continuous relationships with customers through numerous devices connected to the AI home, ultimately transforming into a ‘Smart Life Solution Company’ that provides differentiated value.

According to market research firm TechNavio, the global smart home market is projected to grow from USD 81.2 billion in 2023 to USD 260.24 billion by 2028, with an average annual growth rate of 26.23 percent.

“LG is evolving into an intelligent space solutions company that connects and expands experiences in various living spaces. We will continue to make strategic investments to shift our business paradigm, as evidenced by our successive entries into platform-based appliance services and solutions such as the webOS advertising platform and AI home,” said William Cho, CEO of LG Electronics.

About LG Electronics, Inc.
LG Electronics is a global innovator in technology and consumer electronics with a presence in almost every country and an international workforce of more than 74,000. LG’s four companies – Home Appliance & Air Solution, Home Entertainment, Vehicle component Solutions and Business Solutions – combined for global revenue of over KRW 84 trillion in 2023. LG is a leading manufacturer of consumer and commercial products ranging from TVs, home appliances, air solutions, monitors, automotive components and solutions, and its premium LG SIGNATURE and intelligent LG ThinQ brands are familiar names world over. Visit www.LGnewsroom.com for the latest news.

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BEIJING, July 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — The China Media Group Voice of the South China Sea released on July 8 its first documentary on the ecological survey of Ren ‘ai Jiao, which is called “Ren’ai Jiao: Teardrop of the Nansha Islands.”

In April 2024, a marine ecological survey team composed of Chinese scientists launched a two-month investigation on the Ren ‘ai Jiao of China’s Nansha Islands. On July 8, based on the survey, the South China Sea Ecology Center and the South China Sea Development Research Institute under the Ministry of Natural Resources released a report on the damage to the coral reef ecosystem of Ren ‘ai Jiao. The report shows that the decaying grounded vessel and associated human activities have caused sustained and cumulative damage to the reef ecosystem on Ren ‘ai Jiao.

The documentary “Ren’ai Jiao: Teardrop of the Nansha Islands” features many interviews of scientists and team members who participated in the remote sensing image collection and on-site investigation. The deadly damage of the decaying grounded vessel on the Ren ‘ai Jiao coral reef ecosystem was restored in the form of HD real image and 3D animation. It analyzed the main reasons for the degradation of the coral reef ecosystem of Ren ‘ai Jiao.

Audiences can learn from the documentary that the population structure of macrobenthic invertebrates in the reef area is unbalanced, with heavy metals, oils and active phosphates in the seawater in the reef area significantly higher than historical records.

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BEIJING, July 8, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — DP Technology, an “AI for Science” paradigm-driven company, today announced the nomination of DPT0416, a novel CNS penetrable small molecule targeting Lp-PLA2, as a preclinical candidate for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD).

AD is the most frequent cause of dementia (60%~70%), affecting approximately 57 million people worldwide. Neurovascular dysfunction is an early and predominant event in AD development, independent of classic amyloid pathology. Lp-PLA2 is a phospholipase secreted primarily by inflammatory cells, including peripheral macrophages and CNS microglia. It hydrolyzes oxidized phospholipids typically on low-density lipoprotein (LDL), producing lysophosphatidylcholine (lysoPC) and other potent proinflammatory factors. LysoPC is a key inflammatory mediator on vascular endothelial cells, causing vascular pathology including vessel leakage and BBB damage. The inhibition of Lp-PLA2 by Rilapladib significantly slowed down AD progression and repaired BBB damage in a Phase IIa trial.

DPT0416 is a novel CNS-penetrable Lp-PLA2 inhibitor, exhibiting higher potency, better ADME and physicochemical properties than Rilapladib. In animal models, DPT0416 showed improvement in BBB integrity and a reduction in brain inflammation. The IND-enabling studies are ongoing.

“Alzheimer’s disease imposes increasing burdens on the world. Approvals of three anti-amyloid β (Aβ) antibodies mark a pivotal moment in the fight against AD, but the modest clinical efficacy and side effects highlight the complexity of AD and call for more novel interventions with better efficacy. The future treatment of AD should address multiple aspects of the disease, including anti-oxidants, anti-inflammation, and enhancing brain resilience, among others,” said Xiaomin Zhang, Head of Drug Discovery at DP Technology. “Targeting Lp-PLA2 is a novel therapy that addresses multiple factors beyond amyloid. Given rilapladib’s positive clinical results, the better molecule DPT0416 is expected to bring more benefits to AD and dementia patients.”

“DP Technology is revolutionizing the AI for Science landscape by integrating ‘AI + Simulation + Experiments’ into our processes to address significant medical needs,” said Weijie Sun, Founder and CEO of DP Technology. “The successful identification of DPT0416 highlights the power of our RiDYMO® platform, particularly the contributions of the Uni-FEP and Uni-QSAR modules in enhancing molecular interactions, drug-like characteristics, and BBB penetration. These real-world applications of our cutting-edge algorithms signify an important progression towards our envisioned future. We look forward to forging partnerships with trusted collaborators to advance this initiative to the next pivotal stage.”

The RiDYMO® drug design platform integrates various AI and physical algorithms, dedicated to the development of drugs for “undruggable” targets and “best-in-class” molecules. As one of its core algorithms, Reinforced Dynamics (RiD) has a significant advantage in the sampling efficiency of molecular dynamics simulation. By fully leveraging the high-dimensional representation capabilities of neural networks, RiD can efficiently capture dynamic conformational changes in complicated biomolecular systems.

The RiDYMO® platform is dedicated to studying the dynamics of biological systems and revealing cryptic binding sites, encompassing a range of challenging systems including protein-protein interactions (PPIs), intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs), membrane proteins, RNA, and others. Its effectiveness has been confirmed through validation on challenging targets, including the c-Myc protein, c-Myc RNA, GPX4 protein, Kv1.3 protein, and others.

About DP Technology

DP Technology, an “AI for Science” new paradigm-driven company, dedicated to applying Artificial Intelligence and Molecular Simulation algorithms to solve important scientific problems by combining advanced computational methods.

Relying on DP Technology’s Dynamics-based drug design platform, RiDYMO®, we have set up a world-leading hit discovery platform. The team has established external collaborations and built up strong internal pipeline, focusing on three areas of CNS, oncology and autoimmune diseases.

For collaboration and further information，please contact Dr. Xiaomin Zhang (zhangxm@dp.tech). 

References:
[1] Alzheimers. Dement. 17(Suppl 10), e051496 (2021).
[2] Nat. Med. 25, 270-276 (2019).
[3] Med. Res. Rev. 40, 79-134 (2020).
[4] Alzheimers. Dement. 1, 131-140 (2015).
[5] Diab. Vasc. Dis. Res. 14, 200-213 (2017).

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ROCKVILLE, Md. and SUZHOU, China, July 8, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Ascentage Pharma (6855.HK), a global biopharmaceutical company engaged in discovering, developing and commercializing both first- and best-in-class therapies for hematological malignancies, announced today that its novel BCR-ABL1 tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), olverembatinib, has been approved by the Pharmaceutical Administration Bureau (ISAF) of the Macau Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People’s Republic of China for the treatment of adult patients with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI)-resistant chronic-phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CML-CP) or accelerated-phase CML (CML-AP) harboring the T315I mutation; and adult patients with CML-CP resistant to and/or intolerant of first-and second-generation TKIs. This approval marks another major milestone for olverembatinib following initial approvals granted to the drug in the Chinese mainland for the above indications.

Olverembatinib, a novel drug developed by Ascentage Pharma with support from the National Major New Drug Development program, is the first third-generation BCR-ABL1 inhibitor approved by China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA). As a potential global best-in-class drug that can effectively target BCR-ABL1 and a spectrum of BCR-ABL1 mutants, including the T315I mutation, clinical trial results of olverembatinib have already been included in the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines for the management of CML.^[1] Olverembatinib is being jointly commercialized in China by Ascentage Pharma and Innovent Biologics. All lead drug candidates are being studied as they are an investigational drug and not approved in the US.

“Olverembatinib has the potential to be a global best-in-class drug. We are glad that the drug is set to benefit patients with CML in Macau, China, with the approval marking another major milestone in the clinical development of olverembatinib,” said Dr. Dajun Yang, Chairman and CEO of Ascentage Pharma. “Since its inception, Ascentage Pharma has steadfastly committed to its mission of addressing unmet clinical needs in China and around the world. We are confident that over time, olverembatinib and our other investigational drugs will bring greater benefits to more patients globally.”

Reference:

1. Shah N, Bhatia R, Altman JK et al. NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®) Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Version 2.2024 (December 5, 2023). Available from: https://www.nccn.org/professionals/physician_gls/pdf/cml.pdf. 

About Ascentage Pharma

Ascentage Pharma (6855.HK) is a fully integrated global biopharmaceutical company engaged in discovering, developing and commercializing both first-in-class and best-in-class therapies to address global unmet medical needs primarily in hematological malignancies. On October 28, 2019, Ascentage Pharma was listed on the Main Board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited with the stock code 6855.HK.

The company has built a pipeline of 9 clinical-stage drug candidates, including novel, highly potent Bcl-2 and dual Bcl-2/Bcl-xL inhibitors, as well as candidates aimed at IAP and MDM2-p53 pathways, and next-generation TKIs. Ascentage Pharma is also the only company in the world with active clinical programs targeting all three known classes of key apoptosis regulators. The company is conducting more than 40 clinical trials, including 6 global registrational Phase III studies, in the US, Australia, Europe, and China.

Olverembatinib, the company’s first lead asset developed for the treatment of drug-resistant chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and the company’s first approved product in China, has been granted Priority Review Designations and Breakthrough Therapy Designations by the Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) of China National Medical Products Administration (NMPA). To date, the drug had been included into the China National Reimbursement Drug List (NRDL). Furthermore, olverembatinib has been granted Orphan Drug Designations (ODDs) and a Fast Track Designation (FTD) by the US FDA, and an Orphan Designation by the EMA of the EU.

To date, Ascentage Pharma has obtained a total of 16 ODDs from the US FDA and 1 Orphan Designation from the EMA of the EU for 4 of the company’s investigational drug candidates. Leveraging its robust R&D capabilities, Ascentage Pharma has built a portfolio of global intellectual property rights and entered into global partnerships with numerous leveraging its robust R&D capabilities, Ascentage Pharma has built a portfolio of global intellectual property rights and entered into global partnerships with numerous leading biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies such as Takeda, AstraZeneca, Merck, Pfizer and Innovent ; and research and development relationships with leading research institutions such as Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Mayo Clinic, MD Anderson Cancer Center, National Cancer Institute and the University of Michigan.

The company has built a talented team with global experience in the discovery and development of innovative drugs and is setting up its world-class commercial manufacturing and Sales & Marketing teams. One pivotal aim of Ascentage Pharma is to continuously strengthen its R&D capabilities and accelerate its clinical development programs, in order to fulfil its mission of addressing unmet clinical needs in China and around the world for the benefit of more patients.

Forward-Looking Statements

The forward-looking statements made in this article relate only to the events or information as of the date on which the statements are made in this article. Except as required by law, Ascentage Pharma undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, after the date on which the statements are made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. You should read this article completely and with the understanding that our actual future results or performance may be materially different from what we expect. In this article, statements of, or references to, our intentions and expectations or those of any of our Directors or our Company are made as of the date of this article. Any of these intentions and expectations may alter in light of future development.

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HAIKOU, China, July 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — A report from Hainan International Media Center (HIMC):

From July 4-6, a delegation from China’s southern Hainan Province held Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP) related promotion and exchange activities in Switzerland, cementing cooperation in the fields of medical health, education, and high-end shopping & consumption.

During their time in Switzerland, the Hainan delegation held discussions and research meetings with numerous important companies and institutions, including Merck, Richemont, Roche Diagnostics,  EHL Hospitality Business School, Switzerland Global Enterprise, the World Trade Organization, and the World Intellectual Property Organization.

Inviting Swiss counterparts to leverage the FTP’s preferential policies, Hainan is specifically promoting cooperation in the fields of medical health, independent school running, and intellectual property protection. Hainan also made a point of expressing their warm welcome to Swiss enterprises to take part in the 5th China International Consumer Products Expo in April, 2025.

Co-organized by Hainan’s provincial government and the Switzerland Global Enterprise, the Hainan Free Trade Port Medical & Health Industry Exchange Meeting was held in Zurich on July 4. The event was well-received, with nearly 50 representatives from well-known Swiss companies and industry associations (including the Swiss Medical Technology Association, the the Swiss Scientific and Industrial Pharmaceutical Association, Novartis, Nestlé Health Science, Sonova, Similasan, Alcon, and IBSA) in attendance.

At the meeting, the Swiss side affirmed that the Hainan FTP’s conducive business environment and preferential policies (especially the innovative measures in the Boao Lecheng International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone) mean that the island has broad development prospects in the medical and health industry. Lecheng has become the primary rapid access channel for global innovative medical products entering China, and many Swiss medical companies—in learning about how the FTP’s preferential policies support Lecheng—are now planning to deepen cooperation with Hainan.

The conference saw contract signings take place between Sonova & the Boao Lecheng International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone, Industrie Biomediche Insubri SA & Susheng Biotech, and Dr. Dünner AG & Winhealth Pharma. Also, to promote innovative development in life sciences and the medical health industries, Switzerland Global Enterprise signed a memorandum of understanding with the Hainan Provincial Bureau of International Economic Development.

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