CJ Bioscience Officially Launched: "Leaping to Become the World's No.1 Microbiome Company"

(From left) Choi Eun-seok, CEO of CJ CheilJedang; Cheon Jong-sik, CEO of CJ Bioscience; and Hwang Yoon-il, Head of CJ CheilJedang Bio Business Division, are taking a commemorative photo at the 'CJ Bioscience Launch Ceremony' on the 4th.

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] CJ CheilJedang's red bio (pharmaceutical? healthcare) specialized subsidiary, CJ Bioscience, has officially launched. Aiming to develop next-generation microbiome-based new drugs at a global top level, the company is taking full-scale steps to strengthen the group's future growth engine in the 'health (wellness)' sector.

CJ Bioscience held its launch ceremony on the 4th at the CJ Human Resources Development Center in Jung-gu, Seoul, attended by key executives including CJ CheilJedang CEO Eunseok Choi and CJ Bioscience CEO Jongsik Cheon.

CEO Cheon said, "Today will be remembered as a great beginning in the field of treatment and prevention of intractable diseases that can contribute to humanity worldwide beyond Korea," adding, "By 2025, we will have 10 pipelines and 2 technology exports to leap forward as the 'Global No.1 Microbiome Company'."

CEO Choi emphasized in his congratulatory speech, "We have officially started the future growth engine toward CJ Group's mid-term vision of 'Wellness,'" and urged, "Secure a super-gap capability and establish the foundation for innovative growth at an early stage."

CJ Bioscience presented its '3 Major Innovation Growth Strategies' to achieve the vision of 'Global No.1 Microbiome Company.'

First, it will secure super-gap research and development (R&D) capabilities. By expanding cohorts (case-control disease studies) and acquiring global human microbiome big data, it plans to build a bio-digital platform.

It will also accelerate new drug development based on the bio-digital platform. To this end, it plans to advance the microbiome new drug candidate platform to shorten discovery periods and improve clinical success rates.

Furthermore, it will focus on global expansion of new businesses. The company will expand its business areas to include next-generation sequencing (NGS), genome diagnostics, contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), and personalized health functional foods.

CEO Cheon stated, "Specifically, within 2 to 3 years, we will push for entry into the US FDA clinical phase 1 for pipelines treating immuno-oncology and autoimmune diseases, and technology exports through joint research with global big pharma," adding, "Microbiome-based bio platform technology will have a significant impact across medical and healthcare fields, becoming new global blockbusters like immuno-oncology drugs or mRNA vaccines."

CJ Bioscience plans to maximize synergy by combining CJ CheilJedang's top-level microbial, strain, and fermentation technologies with microbiome precision analysis, discovery capabilities, and big data.

The domestic and international market outlook is bright. According to consulting firm Frost & Sullivan, the global microbiome market size is expected to grow from about $80 billion in 2019 to approximately $110 billion by 2023. The Korean government recently established the 'National Microbiome Innovation Strategy' and plans to invest 1 trillion KRW over the next 10 years.

CJ Bioscience is a subsidiary established by integrating the microbiome specialized company 'ChunLab,' acquired by CJ CheilJedang in October last year, with existing red bio resources.

Meanwhile, CEO Cheon, founder of ChunLab, decided to resign from his professorship at Seoul National University, where he had served for over 20 years, to focus solely on management after being appointed as the new CEO of CJ Bioscience.

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