Citic Securities has released a research report highlighting ingredient innovation as a key growth driver for both skincare and medical aesthetics. Following the success of hyaluronic acid and collagen, the industry is seeking the next blockbuster raw material. The firm believes PDRN holds strong potential due to its well-demonstrated efficacy mechanisms, established consumer awareness, and a long history of successful application in medical aesthetics and skincare overseas.
While PDRN has seen rising interest recently, the supply chain remains in a pre-boom phase. Raw material suppliers, brands, and medical aesthetics firms are making moves, but the ingredient's marketing anchor is not yet clear, brand spending is cautious, and the end market has not scaled significantly. Citic Securities argues that if PDRN injectable products are approved, if consumer marketing finds a more focused angle, and if promotional efforts for both medical aesthetics and cosmetics create a resonance effect, the PDRN supply chain could see major growth. The firm favors companies that are taking an early lead in PDRN medical aesthetics products, beauty brands actively incorporating the ingredient, and raw material producers with large-scale manufacturing capabilities.
PDRN is "Hot" but Not "Explosive," Awaiting Catalysts
PDRN's popularity is rising due to its unique bioactivity and efficacy. According to Jigua Data, from 2024 to 2025, the volume of PDRN mentions on Douyin, Xiaohongshu, Weibo, and Kuaishou increased 2.4 to 33 times year-over-year. In 2025, over 9,000 new cosmetic product registrations featured PDRN, a 20% year-over-year increase. Both medical and cosmetic sectors are getting involved. CITIC SEC notes that while companies like Lepu Medical have submitted registration for approval, and firms like Lailai Technology and Lingmei Bio are in clinical trials, no compliant injectable products are yet on the market due to regulatory hurdles. In the cosmetics sector, brands like Shanghai Jahwa United Co Ltd (02145), Proya Cosmetics Co Ltd (603605.SH), Botanee, and L'Oreal have all launched PDRN products. Currently, South Korean firms like APR and PRP lead global PDRN promotion. Data from DATAINTELO shows the global PDRN market was about $1.8 billion in 2025, with the Asia-Pacific region, led by the South Korean medical aesthetics market, accounting for roughly 41.2%, or about $740 million. However, the Chinese PDRN cosmetic market is still in its infancy, with a market size of only about 400 million RMB and the top brand's annual sales under 200 million RMB, suggesting significant room for future catalysts.
Strong Academic Consensus, High Consumer Awareness, and Long-Term Validation
PDRN has a long history of academic research, with numerous papers published in top JCR Q1 journals, laying the foundation for downstream applications. Research from the 1990s began exploring PDRN's activity mechanisms and has been widely cited. More recent literature has expanded on material characterization, molecular mechanisms, and clinical efficacy. South Korean companies have driven global interest, with promotion by several Western celebrities helping the ingredient gain mainstream attention. In China, the gray market for PDRN products has built consumer awareness, and brand marketing is intensifying. Clinical research on PDRN by Mastelli dates back to the 1980s and 1990s, leading to the launch of the first PN medical aesthetics injectable, PLINEST, in 2005. PRP followed with its PDRN injectable, Rejuran, in 2014. In cosmetics, patents for nucleic acid ingredients trace back to the 1960s. This long history of application in both medical aesthetics and skincare has solidified the ingredient's academic foundation and consumer mindshare.
Global PDRN Leaders: PRP's Deep Vertical Integration vs. APR's Mass-Market Focus
PRP (PharmaResearch) covers the entire PDRN supply chain, from raw materials to medical devices, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. With its own controlled fishery sources and proprietary extraction processes, PRP generated 1.42 billion RMB in PDRN medical device revenue and 590 million RMB in cosmetic revenue in 2025. Its medical aesthetics business initially focused on building credibility with doctors, spending five years on B2B education before ramping up consumer marketing, leading to sustained high growth with a 56% CAGR from 2018 to 2025. Its cosmetic business has accelerated, also showing a 56% CAGR over the same period, with a 69% year-over-year increase in 2025, benefiting from the spillover of ingredient awareness and combined medical-cosmetic treatment plans. In contrast, APR, through its Medicure brand, has focused on the mass-market cosmetics segment. Since 2024, it has capitalized on the PDRN opportunity, achieving a 71% CAGR in revenue from 2023 to 2025. The company uses proprietary liposome encapsulation technology and innovative capsule-plus-gel formats. Priced as a mass-market option, its serums are over 25% cheaper than competitors on Amazon. Combining strong efficacy, a novel user experience, and high value, several Medicure PDRN products rank high in their Amazon categories. APR initially built its brand through online direct sales, expanded to third-party platforms like Amazon in Q2 2024, and began adding offline beauty specialty stores and distributors in 2025 to fuel its rapid growth.
China: Improving Medical Aesthetics Regulation and a Booming Cosmetic Market
Regulatory frameworks for PDRN in medical aesthetics are becoming clearer, with the completion of drug-device combination classifications and the release of expert consensus. In January 2025, Lepu Medical submitted the first new drug application for a PDRN medical aesthetics injectable, and companies like Yixin Holdings (Rejuran) are advancing clinical trials. Looking at the history of ingredient iteration in medical aesthetics, CITIC SEC estimates that the share of regenerative materials in fillers rose from 6% in 2021 to over 45% in 2024, and the share of recombinant collagen in hydrating injections increased from 13% in 2022 to 28% in 2024, suggesting significant potential for PDRN. In the cosmetics market, a diverse range of players are entering the fray, with the value segment seeing rapid volume growth led by Han Yu. According to JQ Data, sales volume of PDRN cosmetics priced under 100 RMB surged 30 to 35 times year-over-year in 2025, with Han Yu capturing about a 45% share in this price band through its high-value PDRN single-dose ampoules. On Douyin's PDRN product rankings for July, Han Yu's PDRN ampoules ranked second with over 38 million RMB in GMV, trailing only Dilo Wei. On the brand rankings, Fuerjia, Erno Laszlo, and Yi Lian ranked fifth, seventh, and ninth, respectively, highlighting the continued push by domestic beauty brands. In raw materials, fish-derived extraction remains the mainstream method, but domestic manufacturers are making progress on multiple fronts, including plant extraction and recombinant synthesis. Ruijiming successfully developed recombinant PDRN in January 2025, which has been used in Clinique's CX repair line. The company is also expanding its fish-derived capacity to a 5-ton scale. Huaxi Bio is developing PDRN via salmon extraction, microbial fermentation, and synthetic biology. According to company announcements, its Weihai factory is expected to begin production in Q3 2026 with a total capacity of about 2 tons, and revenue for this year is expected to reach tens of millions of RMB, with cosmetic-grade PDRN already entering the supply chain of a major international beauty company.
Key risks include slower-than-expected approval of new products, ineffective marketing for new ingredients, a decline in ingredient popularity, safety issues, stricter-than-expected regulatory policies, and intensified product competition.
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