CJ CheilJedang Spins Off Health Division... Establishes CJ Wellcare

Strengthening Group's 4 Major Growth Engine 'Wellness' Business
Securing Structural Competitiveness in the Health Supplement Market
Leaping to Industry Leading Position by 2025

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Hye-seon] CJ CheilJedang is spinning off its health business division to nurture it as a specialized healthcare company. The goal is to strengthen the ‘Wellness’ business, one of the group’s four major growth engines.

Health Business CIC Spin-off

CJ CheilJedang announced on the 23rd that it will spin off the Health Business CIC through a 100% in-kind contribution. The newly established company from the spin-off will be named ‘CJ Wellcare,’ with the spin-off date set for January 1 of next year. CJ Wellcare plans to lead the plant-based premium probiotic market based on expertise and expand specialty products that address consumers’ segmented health issues. In the mid to long term, it aims to become a leader in personalized health functional foods. The company has also set a goal to become a top-tier industry leader by 2025.

CJ CheilJedang first entered the health functional food market in 2002 under the brand ‘CJ Nutra.’ Since then, it introduced functional ingredients such as ‘Hibiscus,’ ‘Hyaluronic Acid,’ and ‘Saw Palmetto’ into a market previously dominated by vitamins and minerals. Diet (Fatdown), eye health (Icyan), skin hydration (InnerB), and male senior health (Jeonripso) are all functional markets created by CJ CheilJedang. Notably, after over seven years of research, the company pioneered the ‘functional probiotic market’ by obtaining individual recognition from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in 2013 for the first domestically developed strain (CJLP133).

Over the past 20 years, CJ CheilJedang has continuously led trends through relentless challenges, but the pace of market change is accelerating. Accordingly, bold decision-making and execution have become more critical, leading to the complete separation of the health business from the food business and securing structural competitiveness by enhancing expertise across the entire value chain of research and development (R&D), marketing, and sales.

Focus and Selection on Probiotics and Specialty Products

CJ Wellcare plans to lead market evolution through a focus and selection strategy on probiotics and specialty products. For probiotics, it aims to expand the ‘BYO Probiotics’ brand into a large-scale lineup of high-content products with over 10 billion CFU (colony-forming units) based on independently developed plant-based strains. It will also focus on developing next-generation probiotics with added functions such as diet and immunity.

The portfolio of specialty products utilizing newly discovered functional ingredients will also be expanded. While concentrating on existing brands such as Jeonripso, Fatdown, and InnerB, the company plans to develop new functional category products. To this end, a dedicated health R&D center will be established to strengthen big data analysis and research functions.

The company is also proactively preparing for the ‘personalized health functional food market.’ Collaborating closely with EDGC (Eone Diagnomics Genome Center), which holds genetic analysis data, and Carewith, CJ Wellcare is developing personalized health functional foods tailored to life cycles. Through Cheonlab, a life sciences company acquired in July, it plans to develop customized probiotic solutions utilizing the microbiome.

Jang Seung-hoon, CEO (Executive Director) of CJ Wellcare, said, “If we have presented new possibilities to the market over the past 20 years, the next 20 years will be about leading market innovation and growth. Based on CJ’s health business know-how and technological capabilities, we will introduce future-oriented products and become a healthcare specialized company providing ‘wellness solutions’ for consumers’ healthy lives.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.