KOLMAR Holdings Acquires Stake in NextnBio... "Rebuilding with a Bio-Centric Focus"

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Kolmar Holdings Korea is acquiring NextN Bio, a bio platform company that possesses organoid-based technology. The acquisition involves a total of 40% equity, making Kolmar Holdings Korea the largest shareholder. The plan is to strengthen the business portfolio centered on the 4th industrial revolution by making the bio industry a future growth engine.

Kolmar Holdings Korea announced on the 28th that through this acquisition, it aims to target the organoid market, which is approximately 1 trillion KRW globally and is expected to grow to 4 trillion KRW by 2027.

Organoids are a compound word of organs and bodies, and are three-dimensional cell aggregates capable of self-regeneration and self-organization, formed through lineage development and differentiation from stem cells. They have been recognized as a new growth engine leading the bio industry, having been selected as one of the top 10 future promising technologies by MIT in 2015.

Kolmar Holdings Korea plans to commercialize organoid technology-based products owned by NextN Bio, including ▲culture kits ▲new drug candidate efficacy verification platforms ▲patient-customized anticancer drugs and efficacy testing for treatments of intractable diseases. Additionally, it aims to create synergy effects with its affiliate HK Inno.N’s new drug development and ultimately targets the development of regenerative medicine therapeutics.

Furthermore, it is expected to contribute to resolving the animal testing issues frequently raised in various research fields by developing toxicity testing methods for cosmetics and health functional food product development using organoid technology. The developed testing methods will be submitted for registration in the OECD guidelines for animal alternative testing.

Founded in 2018, NextN Bio possesses unique organoid standardization technology in Korea. Previously, it was difficult to create environments similar to human organs, making standardization and mass production challenging, but NextN Bio overcame these through convergent research of bio technology and bio system engineering and secured numerous domestic and international fundamental patents.

A Kolmar Holdings Korea official stated, “We will secure global top-tier level convergent technology by combining bio technology on top of the technology that integrates pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and health functional foods,” and added, “We will continue to pursue strategic investments in various ways to secure future growth engines and focus on enhancing corporate value.”

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