Cosmax Bio Launches Development of 5th Generation Probiotics

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Cosmax Group is partnering with a Taiwanese probiotic specialist company to develop 5th generation probiotics.

Cosmax Bio, an ODM company specializing in research, development, and production of health functional foods, announced on the 21st that it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Taiwan's Sunway Biotech. The signing ceremony was held online considering the COVID-19 situation.

Sunway Biotech, a technology holding company of National Taiwan University, is a probiotic research specialist. Together with Professor Pan Ziming of National Taiwan University, who has over 100 SCI (Science Citation Index) papers, they continuously develop new probiotics.

Their representative products include 'NTU101,' which suppresses side effects from Helicobacter treatment and reduces microbiome imbalance, and 'NTU568 (Hongguk),' which has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a New Dietary Ingredient (NDI).

Through this MOU, Cosmax Bio and Sunway Biotech will explore probiotic business cooperation possibilities that maximize the strengths of both companies. Cosmax Group has raw material technology and product manufacturing capabilities for cosmetics, health functional foods, and pharmaceuticals, while Sunway Biotech possesses expertise in probiotics. Accordingly, both companies will exchange technologies across functional research, production, and product commercialization, expanding opportunities in the probiotic raw material business.

In particular, the two companies are considering developing 5th generation pharmabiotics, which have efficacy in disease treatment and prevention, along with complex functional probiotics. The 1st generation probiotics are microorganisms such as lactic acid bacteria that benefit health. Currently, the market is led by 2nd generation prebiotics, 3rd generation synbiotics, and 4th generation postbiotics. Postbiotics refer to various lactic acid bacteria metabolites and inactivated cells that benefit health.

Jungwook Park, CEO of Cosmax Bio, said, "This MOU is an excellent opportunity to dream of developing 5th generation probiotics based on the outstanding technologies of both companies," adding, "We look forward to enhancing public health and expanding the industry in both countries through the development of safe and excellent functional probiotics."

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