Breakthrough and question, Will recombinant Collagen become the next 100 billion track

In 2022, recombinant collagen will usher in its highlight moment.

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In July, along with 14 other key technologies, it was listed as the 15 key technologies that deserved the most attention and broke through the foreign "jammed neck" limitation. In August, the national medical industry standard for recombinant collagen was officially implemented for the first time. In the same year, Juzi Biological successfully landed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and became the first collagen stock. Huaxi Biotech invested 233 million yuan to Jianfinger collagen; Chuangjian Medical and other successful financing to restructure collagen research and capacity expansion......

According to Frost&Sullivan data, it is expected that by 2027, the market size of recombinant collagen is expected to exceed 100 billion yuan. All indications indicate that recombinant collagen will become the next frontier in the field of health care.

However, in April this year, recombinant collagen was "ineffective when added to skin care products" and "inefficient in medical beauty application" were reported, which dampened the hot momentum of recombinant collagen. Watch, doubt, followed.

Can recombinant collagen really be the next billion track?

The scale will reach hundreds of billions of yuan, 2B, 2C is the mainstream

There are two sources of collagen: one is extracted from animals such as fish, pigs, cattle, etc., called animal-derived collagen; The other is recombinant collagen produced by fermentation using genetic engineering techniques.

At present, animal-derived collagen is widely used. It is worth to note that compared with animal-derived collagen, recombinant collagen is produced by synthetic biology methods and has 100% amino acid sequence identity with human collagen, which has higher safety and efficacy, easy to be absorbed by the human body, and does not cause rejection.

In the field of recombinant collagen, China leads the world in technology - original rather than imitation. The leading original technology and application of recombinant collagen in the world, as well as the support of upper policies, especially the successful listing of Juzi Biological, are the main reasons for its single tool and wide popularity.

With the support of capital and policies, domestic enterprises such as Juzi Biological, Jinbo Biological, Chuangjian Medical, and Jiyuan Biological have made great achievements in the reorganization of collagen track.

Data show that the size of China's recombinant collagen market reached 18.5 billion yuan in 2022, accounting for 46.6% of the entire collagen market, with a year-on-year growth rate of 71.3%. The recombinant collagen market in China has achieved a CAGR of 65.3% during the 2017-2022 period. It is estimated that by 2027, the size of China's recombinant collagen market will reach 108.3 billion yuan, accounting for 62.3% of the total collagen market.

Giant creature

"The first strand of recombinant collagen" giant biological focuses on human-like collagen, and its functional skin care products initially enter the department of dermatology and plastic surgery of public hospitals, and then begin to enter the general consumer market after winning a good reputation. In 2022, the company achieved gross margins of up to 84.4% and net margins of 42.38%. High profits are backed by high investment. Since 2019, with the increase of online expenses, the sales expense ratio of Gizbio has soared rapidly from 9.8% in 2019 to 27.1% in Januar-May 2022. According to its 2022 financial report, Juzi Bio has covered more than 1,300 public hospitals and 1,700 private hospitals and clinics through direct sales and distribution channels in China. In addition, the company is currently developing injectable category 3 medical device products, and is expected to complete the registration and approval of products and market sales in Q1 2024. In terms of production capacity, the current annual production capacity of Juzi biological collagen is 10.88 tons, and is expanding to 212.5 tons.

Jinbo biology

In March 2023, Jinbo Biological landed in Beijing Stock Exchange. The company's main products are recombinant collagen II and III medical devices, such as freeze-dried fibers, medical accessories, facial masks, etc. At the same time, Jinbo Biological also produces HPV biological protein products. In 2022, Jinbo Biological's revenue reached 390 million yuan, with a gross profit rate of 85%. Due to the increased investment in product promotion, its sales expenses increased to 26.9%, and its net profit margin was 28%. Jinbo Biological currently has an annual production capacity of about 0.1 tons.

Innovative health care

By 2023, Chuangjian Medical has successfully developed five recombinant collagen core sequences, including type I, type II, type III, type XVII and small molecule recombinant collagen. In the past, the company mainly sold recombinant collagen raw materials and provided processing services for downstream medical device and cosmetics manufacturers. After completing the financing, the company began to try to cultivate its own brand. In the field of medical devices, Chuang Health Medical is at the forefront of the industry, and by 2022, it has successfully launched four three-category medical devices into clinical trials. It has 30 tons of stable fermentation and purification technology, and the raw material supply is more than 2.5 tons. In addition, the recombinant type XVII collagen independently developed and produced by ChuangHealth Medical obtained the INCI name and was included in the international catalogue of cosmetic raw materials. This indicates that China's recombinant collagen has entered the international market.

Polygenic organism

Polygenbio's main raw material product is type III recombinant humanized collagen, and it is currently expanding the production of type I, IV and VII collagen. Juyuan Biotech mainly provides raw material products and OEM services for cosmetics and medical devices to B-end customers, with an annual income of more than 100 million yuan. Juyuan Bio has built a production line with an annual output of 20 tons of recombinant collagen pure products in early 2023, and has completed trial production.

All four are large industry leaders and participate in the development of industry standards. However, each has its own focus. Juzi Biological and Jinbo Biological are committed to developing products covering medical devices, functional skin care and other fields, and mainly provide C-end products for downstream direct sales and distributors, and the proportion of raw material business is relatively low. Chuanghealth Medical and Juyuan Biological mainly focus on recombinant collagen raw materials, and with 2B business as the main business, provide recombinant collagen raw materials for downstream manufacturers, as well as OEM and ODM OEM services for equipment and cosmetics. Among these products or services, functional skin care products and medical dressings had the highest demand.

Functional skin care products and medical dressings are the main areas

Data show that in recent years, the national efficacy skin care products and medical dressings market continues to expand, these two fields are the most important application fields of recombinant collagen. In terms of efficacy skin care products, the market retail sales increased from 13.3 billion yuan in 2017 to nearly 41.1 billion yuan in 2022; In terms of medical dressings, it increased from 6.7 billion yuan in 2017 to nearly 34.7 billion yuan in 2022.

It is expected that by 2027, the market of functional skin care products will reach 62.4 billion yuan; The medical dressing market will reach 25 billion yuan; The skin rejuvenation app market will reach 4.6 billion yuan. From this point of view, the demand for the application of recombinant collagen is strong, and it will certainly shine.

Transdermal absorption and content are questionable

Growing sales, expanding market, broad prospects, although exciting, but the question of recombinant collagen is constantly.

The first is the problem of transdermal absorption. Some insiders say that collagen only acts on damaged skin. If made into skin care products for normal skin, it is not absorbed and can not form a protective film in the skin. If it is used as a filler in the field of medical aesthetics, the retention time is very short and the effect is not significant. And it can not replace hyaluronic acid in water and light.

Second is the problem of content detection. At present, the momentum of recombinant collagen is strong, and it is inevitable that there are many entrants. It is necessary to establish product standards for related products, such as whether recombinant collagen is added, how much collagen is present, and whether it is effective. Another professional said that recombinant collagen is a new track, and whether the recombinant method, collagen structure, and activity can achieve the effect of animal-derived collagen still needs to be verified by the market.

At present, the "recombinant collagen" (YY/T1849-2022) raw material standard has been released, and the relevant testing standards have been applied in China and are applying for international certification. As for product standards, leading units such as the Central Inspection Hospital and Juzi Biological are formulating product standards for recombinant collagen dressings. In this process, Juzi Biological as the leading enterprise of recombinant collagen plays a crucial role. In response to questions, we need to break the embarrassment of being both a player and a referee.

In addition, naming is not standardized, unscientific, false propaganda and other market chaos need to be managed. The development of the above standards is solving this problem. In addition, through the development of various standards, market education can also be carried out to improve consumer awareness of recombinant collagen.

Witness with time, speak with effect

Although there are some doubts, the effect of recombinant collagen is obvious.

In addition, head enterprises also respond to questions through practical actions, reflecting responsibility. In response to the demand of transdermal absorption, Juzi Biological carried out the transdermal absorption experiment of small molecular recombinant collagen below 5000Da, and the experiment proved that the transdermal absorption was easy and the effect was good. For the weak absorption ability of macromolecules, it is considered to make a small molecule carry macromolecules into the skin through formulation system optimization, supramolecular technology and non-covalent bonding to achieve transdermal absorption. Chuang Health Medical has realized the research and development and mass production of type III 5KDA small molecule collagen, and will be put into formal production this year.

With the improvement of expression technology and purification yield, recombinant collagen has been further improved in its functions of moisturizing, anti-wrinkling and tightening, and promoting repair. Therefore, recombinant collagen is more suitable as a raw material for beauty products and medical products than traditional collagen. In addition, with the introduction of various industry standards and consumer market education, the head of the enterprise to go abroad, recombinant collagen glow.

Question or watch, time, is the best witness; Effect, is the best speech.