Maker Of Popular Skin Booster Shot Rejuran Becomes Billionaire On K-Beauty Boom
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The growing popularity of PharmaResearch's skin booster injection Rejuran, which is made from salmon sperm cells, has boosted shares of the biopharma company by about 230% over the past year. The stock surge has made Jung Sang-soo, the company's founder and chairman, South Korea's newest billionaire.
With a 30% stake, Jung, who turned 67 in April, is the largest shareholder of PharmaResearch, which is listed on South Korea's technology-rich Kosdaq stock exchange. Forbes estimates Jung's net worth at $1.2 billion as of Tuesday's stock market close. Jung founded PharmaResearch in 2001 and listed it on the Kosdaq in 2015. He studied pharmacy at Chung-Ang University in Seoul and worked at Daewoong Pharmaceutical.
Based in Gangneung, east of Seoul, PharmaResearch specializes in using PDRN (polydeoxyribonucleotide) and PN (polynucleotide) to treat wrinkles. 'PDRN and PN are regenerative medicine raw materials with proven safety and efficacy, and their composition is a DNA fragment isolated from salmon sperm cells,' PharmaResearch explained in its quarterly regulatory filing. 'As a tissue repair stimulator, PDRN's representative functions are promoting cell production and secretion of various growth factors…PN is a DNA fraction with a longer nucleic acid chain than PDRN.'
Its flagship product is Rejuran, which was launched in 2014 and is sold across Asia. PharmaResearch reported that revenue rose 56% year-over-year to 117 billion won ($85 million) in the first quarter, while net income nearly doubled from the previous year to 36 billion won. About 78% of its revenue came from anti-aging products.
'While general filler procedures focus on artificial volume improvement, Rejuran is differentiated in that it induces skin cell regeneration and ECM (extracellular matrix) stability recovery by directly injecting effective ingredients into the dermis layer,' PharmaResearch said in a regulatory filing. 'This has increased its popularity among consumers who prefer natural skin improvement, and continuous effects through repeated procedures are also factors driving market demand.'
Citing data from Precedence Research, PharmaResearch said in the filing the global anti-aging market is expected to grow from about $73 billion in 2024 to $140.9 billion in 2034. One reason for such galloping growth is rising awareness of self-care.
Another tailwind is that Korean cosmetics and beauty devices have become wildly popular. 'Recently, interest in skin care treatments has been rapidly increasing among foreign medical tourists visiting Korea, and among these, dermatological treatment accounts for the largest proportion in the field of attracting foreign patients,' PharmaResearch said in the filing. South Korea's cosmetics exports grew 21% year-over-year in 2024 to a record $10.2 billion, according to the country's Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.
The growing K-beauty craze catapulted Jung Sung-jae (no relation to PharmaResearch's founder), founder of beauty device maker Classys, into the ranks of Korea's 50 Richest list for the first time last month with an estimated fortune of $760 million. Classys' flagship product is Ultraformer MPT, a high-intensity focused ultrasound device that provides a non-invasive way to tighten and lift skin by regenerating new collagen. In 2022, Bain Capital Private Equity bought a 60% stake in Classys from Jung and his wife, Lee Yeon-joo, and their two children for 670 billion won (about $560 million at the time).
Private equity giants have been circling PharmaResearch with CVC Capital, investing 200 billion won in the company last September for a 10% stake. 'It appears that the company has begun penetration into aesthetics shops in Southeast Asia by tapping into the partner CVC Capital Partners' sales network,' Shinhan Securities analysts Jung Hee-ryeong and Eom Min-yong said in a research note in November. 'Given that Southeast Asia accounts for a large portion of Rejuran exports, the medical device business is expected to see steep growth in 2025.'
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