Rejuran's cosmetics are growing twice as fast as its injectables, and the two aren't the same molecule
Photo by MohammadReza BaBaei on Unsplash
PharmaResearch signed an agreement on 21 September with Shanghai Chicmax, China's second-largest cosmetics group, to expand its Rejuran skincare range there, extending a cosmetics line now growing faster than the injectable that gave it the name.
Cosmetics brought the Korean company ₩102.3bn in the first half, around $75m, with export sales up 91.8 per cent year on year, according to Korea Investment & Securities figures reported by Seoul Economic Daily.
The injectable remains the larger business. Rejuran is a polynucleotide preparation made from salmon DNA and sold as an aesthetic medical device, and the company says it holds product approvals in 47 countries.
PharmaResearch signed a China deal last week. In Britain a session of the injectable runs to £650, the serums borrow its reputation, and the licence to inject it hasn't been written yet.
It reached Britain this year through a small number of clinics. London practices advertise a session at roughly £350 to £650, with under-eye treatments from about £250 and Harley Street quoting £900 and above.
The two product lines are not built on the same molecule, though British clinic marketing often treats them as one thing. The injectable uses PN, a longer-chain polynucleotide. The serums sold across the high street use PDRN, which is shorter.
That distinction is regulatory as well as chemical. In Korea, PDRN preparations are handled as pharmaceuticals, while higher-molecular-weight polynucleotide injectables are handled as medical devices.
In Britain, injectable polynucleotides fall under the Medical Devices Regulations 2002, a framework that certifies the product rather than the person holding the syringe. CE-marked devices complying with the EU regulation can be placed on the Great Britain market until 30 June 2030.
A licensing scheme for non-surgical cosmetic procedures has been in development since the Health and Care Act 2022. The consultation placed skin-booster injections in a middle-risk category that would require a licence. It has not been brought into force.
Botulinum toxin, by comparison, is a prescription-only medicine and needs a prescriber. A polynucleotide injectable is not a medicine at all.
PharmaResearch reported first-quarter revenue of ₩146.1bn and second-quarter revenue of ₩178.7bn, both records, with exports at 40 per cent of the first-quarter total. Analysts have described growth in the device business as slowing since the second quarter of 2025.
The cosmetics push has run through the United States and now China. Rejuran Cosmetics entered about 400 Sephora stores in America in March, and the company bought an American cosmetics manufacturer in June to produce locally. Its European injectable distribution runs through the French aesthetics firm Vivacy, which took an initial ₩2bn shipment in January and a further ₩3bn in April.
PharmaResearch's second-quarter operating profit came in below forecasts. Analysts put about ₩10bn of the shortfall down to one-off costs, among them television advertising for Rejuran.
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PharmaResearch's cosmetics exports rose 91.8% in the first half. Its injectable reached Britain this year — and it isn't the same molecule as the serums.