APR, which is eyeing annual sales of 3 trillion won this year, will release a hospital-use ultrasound lifting device as early as the end of the year. The company, which has grown with cosmetics and at-home beauty devices, is expanding into the medical aesthetic device market used by dermatology and plastic surgery clinics.
According to the industry on the 29th, one of APR's flagship EBD (energy-based device) products recently obtained domestic approval. Using focused ultrasound, it is a lifting device in the same category as the U.S. company Merz's "Ulthera" and CLASSYS's "Shurink." The company is proceeding with follow-up steps aiming to start domestic sales at the end of this year or early next year. It is currently in the stage of receiving feedback on product performance and usability through a medical professional network, while also building out sales and production teams.
There has already been a first result in skin booster injectables for skin improvement. A PN (polynucleotide)-based product received Ministery of Food and Drug Safety class II medical device certification and export approval, leading to small-scale exports starting in the second quarter. From the third quarter, the plan is to ramp up overseas sales focused on Japan and the Middle East. The goal is to first capture the Middle East market, which has strong purchasing power, and Japan, where reference effects that spread results to other regions are significant. PN is an ingredient extracted from salmon DNA, and PharmaResearch's "Rejuran" opened the domestic skin booster market based on this ingredient.
However, domestic sales are expected to take time. Because it is an invasive procedure that injects directly into the dermis, Ministery of Food and Drug Safety class IV medical device approval is required, and the company expects the related process to take about another 1 year and 6 months.
APR's rapid push into new businesses is evident in its job postings. The company is concurrently hiring experienced talent, including hardware design engineers for medical devices and research and development and manufacturing technology personnel.
APR's sales in the first half of this year were 1.3609 trillion won, with operating profit of 342.8 billion won, up 129% and 146%, respectively, from a year earlier. Looking only at the second quarter, sales were 767.5 billion won and operating profit was 190.6 billion won, both a quarterly record. The company raised its annual sales target from 2.1 trillion won to 3 trillion won.
Medical aesthetic devices are a growth pillar to realize this. APR added medical device development, manufacturing and sales to its articles of incorporation in March 2023, and at the shareholders meeting in March this year, it added medical device consumables and medical supplies development and medical device repair to its business purposes. It effectively laid the groundwork in advance for a structure that encompasses consumables and maintenance after sales. In its semiannual report, it said, "We are proceeding with product and manufacturing facility approval procedures, and the timing of sales launch will be determined according to the status of approvals and commercialization readiness."
The odds of success lie in the links with existing businesses. APR can directly apply to hospital-use devices the radiofrequency and ultrasound technologies accumulated through its at-home device brand "Medicube Age-R," its overseas sales ratio nearing 90%, and its in-house production system. It currently has overseas subsidiaries in 13 locations, including Japan, the United States, China, the United Kingdom, France, Vietnam and India. The circular model that leads consumers brought in by at-home devices to in-clinic procedures, and then back to the company's cosmetics and home devices for post-procedure care, is an advantage that existing medical aesthetic device firms do not have.
An industry official said, "If APR, which is optimized for manufacturing and selling beauty devices for general consumers, achieves meaningful results in medical aesthetics as well, both growth and profitability will be reassessed," adding, "The timing of the EBD launch is the inflection point."