Hong Junho, CEO of GI Innovation, Concurrent CEO of Mediogen... "Expanding Microbiome CDMO"

GI Innovation announced on the 1st that CEO Hong Junho will concurrently serve as the new CEO of Mediogen, the leading domestic producer of probiotic products.

Hong Junho, CEO of GI Innovation and newly appointed CEO of Mediogen
[Photo by GI Innovation]

CEO Hong Junho will lead new businesses such as global contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) in addition to Mediogen's existing businesses like microbiome health functional food manufacturing and strain development, as well as oversee the company's KOSDAQ listing. He will also concurrently hold the position of CEO at GI Innovation.

CEO Hong previously worked as a management consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting (PWC) and served as CEO of pharmaceutical distributor Anyun Care and new drug research and development company Interpark Bio Convergence (IBCC). After moving to GI Innovation, he led a pre-IPO fundraising of 160.3 billion KRW and the company's KOSDAQ listing.

CEO Hong stated, “GI Biome, an affiliate of GI Innovation, has discovered strains that induce mass production of glucagon-like peptide (GLP)-1 from over 300 strains using its proprietary platform technology. With growing interest in the anti-obesity field, our first goal is the commercialization of GI Biome’s anti-obesity strains. We will do our best to grow into a global CDMO company producing anti-obesity microbiome raw materials.”

Mediogen currently operates finished product and raw material production plants in Chungju and Jecheon, Chungbuk Province. In 2021, it completed the Chungju 2nd plant with an advanced line spanning approximately 10,000㎡, and in June of this year, it completed the Chungju 3rd plant covering 11,500㎡ for raw material production and CDMO business, solidifying the infrastructure for business expansion.

Additionally, to support Mediogen’s new business expansion, Kim Byungkwon, Executive Director of GI Biome, was appointed as head of CDMO. Director Kim is recognized as a big data expert in the microbiome field, having published the first domestic paper on next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based microbiome analysis. Alongside his existing role at GI Biome, he will concurrently lead Mediogen’s new businesses such as mass production of customized obesity probiotics through NGS and microbiome therapeutic CDMO.

Following this personnel appointment, major shareholders Yuhan Corporation (29.26%) and GI Innovation (17.7%) are expected to strengthen their business cooperation to improve Mediogen’s performance. Currently, Yuhan Corporation has applied Mediogen’s 'SP coating technology,' which helps probiotics in the microbiome brand 'Wise Biome' survive stomach acid and bile acid to reach the intestines alive.

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