K-Beauty wants to fix the ‘Ozempic face’ problem
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
A customer receiving treatment at a skincare clinic in Seoul, South Korea.
PHOTO: REUTERS
SEOUL – “Ozempic face” could spawn the next K-beauty craze.
South Korean biotechnology company L&C Bio plans to launch an injectable skin booster made from donated human fat to restore lost facial volume, betting demand for cosmetic fixes tied to blockbuster weight-loss drugs will drive its next phase of growth.
L&C – which pioneered the use of donated human tissue in K-beauty skin boosters – developed the technology about five years ago, chief executive Lee Whan-chul said in an interview.
The company holds patents on the technology in South Korea, the US and China.
South Korea has repeatedly turned niche cosmetic procedures into global beauty trends, from glass skin regimens to salmon sperm facials and L&C’s flagship human tissue treatment Re2O.
The next wave may shift from improving skin quality to restoring facial and body volume, which L&C Bio’s new product is designed to support.
Unlike Re2O – which targets skin quality and wrinkles using donated skin tissue – the new treatment processes donated fat into an extracellular matrix that acts as a scaffold, allowing a patient’s own fat cells to repopulate treated areas and restore lost volume naturally.
Lee sees the product – tentatively called MegaAdipoECM – addressing the hollow cheeks and sagging skin known as “Ozempic face” in GLP-1 users while also offering a biological alternative to silicone breast implants, whose long-term health risks include rupture.
Commercialisation stalled because South Korean law classified donated fat as medical waste, preventing companies from recycling it, but that changed in 2026, after lawmakers legalised the practice.
L&C expects to launch the product after a one-year grace period, likely in late 2027.
“We had already fully developed the technology, but regulatory hurdles forced us to explore manufacturing in Singapore or the US, where we received local proposals,” Lee said. “Now that we can manufacture directly at our domestic facilities, we can bring the product to the market much faster without spending additional raw material costs.”
The legal change could drive profit because donated fat, once a disposal cost, will become a nearly free raw material, Morgan Stanley analyst Kim Mi-hyun said.
The firm targets 1 trillion won (over S$900 million) in revenue by 2030 across its human tissue platform, powered by Re2O.
The global dermal fillers market is expected to more than double to US$17 billion (S$21.8 billion) by 2035, according to Precedence Research.
Asia is leading the expansion, fuelled by surging demand for non-surgical facials and rapidly ageing populations.
The volume segment is currently dominated by traditional filler and bio-stimulator giants including Botox maker AbbVie, while in the US, Renuva – an injectable that gradually replaces age-related fat loss with a patient’s own fat – has become buzzy among beauty enthusiasts.
Still, technology is also likely to reignite debate over using donated human matter – including tissue and now fat – for cosmetic procedures.
Critics say commercialising donations could undermine altruistic donations and divert scarce material from burn victims and trauma patients, while Lee says donors explicitly consent to aesthetic use and shortages are overstated.
“We welcome any moves to strengthen regulations and guidelines,” Lee said. “It would give greater clarity, clear up misunderstandings and help us expand globally.” BLOOMBERG
