Under Chairman Kwon Ki-bum, the company has shifted beyond OTC drugs into health care and cosmetics
Its next bet is a microsphere injection platform and a 60 billion won plant in Jincheon
Kwon Ki-bum, CEO of Dongkook Pharmaceutical
[Insight Korea = An Hye-wan]
Dongkook Pharmaceutical Chairman Kwon Ki-bum is seeking to lead the company into the 1 trillion won sales club for the first time this year while producing tangible results from research and development. Since Mr. Kwon became chairman in 2022, Dongkook Pharmaceutical has been seen as moving closer to its goal of becoming a total health care company. At the center of that shift has been K-beauty. The next phase, “Dongkook Pharmaceutical 3.0,” is expected to focus on expanding the prescription drug business through innovation in injectable medicines.
According to industry officials on May 4, Dongkook Pharmaceutical has successfully diversified its business in recent years, expanding from an over-the-counter drug company known for products such as Insadol and Madecassol into health supplements and cosmetics.
Last year’s revenue alone shows how much the company’s business profile has changed from the 2010s. Of its 926.9 billion won in consolidated sales in 2025, OTC products accounted for 18 percent. The health care division, which includes Centellian24 and Madeca Cream, became the largest business unit with a 34 percent share.
In 2016, a decade earlier, Dongkook Pharmaceutical’s sales stood at 326 billion won, and revenue from categories such as cosmetics accounted for only 15.23 percent. OTC products, by contrast, made up 38.09 percent of sales.
The first fiscal year in which the health care business overtook OTC was 2019, when health care sales reached 135.7 billion won and OTC sales stood at 121 billion won. Since then, the gap has widened each year. This year, the share of health care is expected to exceed twice that of OTC for the first time, at 37.1 percent versus 16.7 percent.
Behind that diversification was Mr. Kwon’s strategic judgment. He has made two major bets. The first came in 2015, when the company launched Madeca Cream and Centellian24 at the same time.
The second came in 2024, when Dongkook Pharmaceutical acquired Withnix, a contract manufacturer of beauty devices, and Rebom Cosmetics, a cosmetics ODM company.
Kwon’s “Old Wisdom, New Insight”: From Madecassol to Madeca Cream
Mr. Kwon is the eldest son of the late founder, Kwon Dong-il. He joined Dongkook Pharmaceutical in 1994 as head of the planning office. After his father died in 2001, he succeeded to management at the age of 34. He became vice president and chief executive in 2002, president in 2005, vice chairman in 2010 and chairman in January 2022.
Mr. Kwon has long emphasized a management philosophy rooted in “learning from the old to understand the new.” He has told employees, “Let us prepare for tomorrow by reflecting on the time we have passed through and clearly distinguishing what we should cherish and develop from what we should not repeat.”
From Madecassol, which has led Dongkook Pharmaceutical for more than 50 years since 1970, the company created the new Madeca Cream brand. It then used the success of Madeca Cream as a springboard to acquire Withnix and Rebom Cosmetics. The gradual repositioning of the company’s center of gravity can be seen as aligned with Mr. Kwon’s philosophy.
His focus has now turned to the global expansion of Centellian24. Since the second half of 2025, the brand has accelerated its push into overseas markets.
In Japan, Centellian24 entered about 1,000 offline stores in April alone through major retail channels such as Matsumoto Kiyoshi, Loft and Don Quijote. The expansion has centered on key commercial districts in Tokyo, including Shibuya, Shinjuku and Ginza.
In North America, the company focused its efforts in January and February. According to Dongkook Pharmaceutical, it met with about 100 buyers at its stand-alone booth at Cosmoprof Miami in January. The same month, it expanded contact with Caribbean creators through a TikTok Shop affiliate event in Miami.
A “Private Breakfast” event held in New York in February generated 3.3 million post-event social media impressions. Madeca Cream entered the top 100 in Amazon’s U.S. beauty category in the first quarter, and in March the company expanded into Europe with a stand-alone booth at Cosmoprof Bologna.
Dongkook Pharmaceutical is also actively expanding its cosmetics footprint. In 2024, it acquired a 50.9 percent stake in Withnix for 2.2 billion won and a 53.66 percent stake in Rebom Cosmetics for 30.7 billion won. These were the first mergers and acquisitions carried out since Mr. Kwon became chairman in 2022.
Announcing the Withnix and Rebom acquisitions, Chief Executive Song Joon-ho said, “Dongkook Pharmaceutical has a vision to become a global beauty health care company in the K-beauty market.”
The Next Bet: Microspheres and a 60 Billion Won Plant in Jincheon
Mr. Kwon’s “Dongkook Pharmaceutical 2.0” was centered on health care led by cosmetics. In the coming 3.0 era, the focus is expected to shift to prescription medicines, following OTC and health care.
Mr. Kwon is investing profits from OTC products and cosmetics into new drug research and development. The most notable technology is a microsphere platform. It is a long-acting injectable, or LAI, technology that can replace a drug taken every day with an injection administered once a month or once every three months. Its advantage is that it can significantly reduce the burden on patients who must regularly take medication.
In February, Dongkook Pharmaceutical succeeded in a phase 3 clinical trial for a three-month formulation of leuprorelin, a hormone injection used to treat prostate cancer and endometriosis. Dongkook Pharmaceutical is the only company in Korea to have succeeded in clinical trials for a three-month leuprorelin formulation.
The company is also developing GLP-1 obesity treatments as long-acting formulations lasting from one month to as long as three months. It is investing 60 billion won in its Jincheon plant to build a dedicated injection production line, with operations targeted for the second half of 2027.
Dongkook Pharmaceutical is a latecomer in the GLP-1 market. Peptron, Inventage Lab and G2G Bio are already discussing collaborations and technology transfers with global big pharma companies. Peptron has been mentioned in connection with possible cooperation with Eli Lilly through its ultrasonic spray-drying SmartDepot platform. Inventage Lab has secured a Korean patent for a long-acting formulation of Eli Lilly’s orforglipron using its microfluidic IVL-DrugFluidic platform.
Dongkook Pharmaceutical’s claimed point of differentiation is its manufacturing know-how, built over nearly 30 years of commercializing the microsphere-based hormone injection Lorelin Depot after localizing propofol production in 1996. The microsphere platform is seen as having the advantage of being expandable from hormone treatments to obesity and oncology indications.
Mr. Kwon previously presented the “Value Creation 20” vision in 2024, saying the company would use entry into the 1 trillion won sales club as a starting point to accelerate new drug development and global expansion. Sangsangin Securities forecast that “Dongkook Pharmaceutical’s cosmetics exports will grow by more than 100 percent in 2026, with health care sales driving companywide growth.”
-This article was translated by ChatGPT. (이 기사는 챗GPT가 번역했습니다.)
댓글
0