Dongwon Group is drawing up a future strategy to enter the bio business by using byproducts of its core business, "tuna."
According to a compilation of ChosunBiz reporting on the 10th, Dongwon Industries, the holding company of Dongwon Group, is pushing a plan to extract functional ingredients from tuna byproducts and commercialize them as health functional foods.
Dongwon Industries' business roadmap is to first secure a cash cow (revenue generator) through this, then gradually expand its scope into high-difficulty bio areas such as new drug development using high-purity extracted ingredients.
A senior industry official familiar with Dongwon Industries' bio business said, "Honorary Chairman Kim Jae-chul has a great interest in the bio business," and noted, "We have been considering a new approach that only Dongwon can take, not a generic bio play."
The person said, "Tuna, which practically swims without sleeping 24 hours a day, has highly developed cardiopulmonary function," and added, "The idea is to use these characteristics to create high-functionality health functional foods that go beyond the limits of existing foods."
The goal is to extract high-purity active ingredients from byproducts such as lungs, eyes, and bones generated during tuna butchering and commercialize them into health functional foods, pharmaceuticals, and medical devices.
In fact, tuna receive oxygen through "ram ventilation," a method in which breathing becomes difficult if they stop swimming, making them a highly active species that virtually never stops swimming. Due to this survival structure, they are known to have red muscles rich in myoglobin, which stores and carries oxygen, and a highly efficient energy metabolism system.
Focusing on these physiological characteristics, Dongwon Industries plans to push commercialization by using the active ingredients as core bio raw materials.
Dongwon Group is already in the health functional foods business through its affiliate Dongwon F&B. It imports products from the U.S. health supplement brand GNC for exclusive sale in Korea, and directly manufactures some products such as Cheonjiin red ginseng.
Whereas the existing business model centers on distribution by bringing in overseas brands and selling them, the new business the company is envisioning aims to directly develop and convert into raw materials "Dongwon's proprietary functional ingredients" using tuna as its own materials and supplies, which is seen as a different level from the existing model.
Japanese companies such as Nissui and Taisho Pharmaceutical are selling uric acid management supplements whose main ingredient is anserine extracted from tuna. "Katsuo peptide," made by enzymatically decomposing tuna protein, has been approved as a functional ingredient that suppresses blood pressure increase. High-purity hyaluronic acid extracted from the adipose tissue behind the tuna eye and fish bones with a calcium phosphate ratio similar to the human bone structure could also be key development targets.
An industry official said, "Like PharmaResearch, which purified DNA components from discarded salmon testis and created the mega-hit medical device 'Rejuran,' Dongwon is drawing attention for taking an 'upcycling' strategy that turns tuna byproducts into high value-added materials."
However, Dongwon Group took a cautious stance, saying, "The bio business has not been made concrete."
A group official said, "We have not finalized the bio business in detail," and drew a line, saying, "We are at the stage of researching upcycling to use tuna byproducts efficiently." The person explained, "Research to extract omega-3 components from tuna skin or eyes has also been an ongoing task."
Even so, moves suggesting Dongwon Industries' possible entry into the bio business are continuing. This year, Dongwon Industries hired Executive Director Nam Taek-jong, a former pharmacist and former CEO of the filler and skin-booster specialist RF Bio, to oversee corporate strategy. Earlier, in 2023, it attempted to acquire Boryung Biopharma, but the deal fell through.
A group official said, "Executive Director Nam's role is not limited to the bio business," adding, "He is responsible for overall new business development and strategic planning."
Kim Nam-jung, chairman of Dongwon Group, said in his New Year's address early this year, "Let's keep all options open, including building strategic partnerships with competitive corporations or mergers and acquisitions (M&A) that can create synergy, to achieve qualitative growth."
Meanwhile, Dongwon Group founder Honorary Chairman Kim Jae-chul, through a spin-off between 2003 and 2004, handed the financial business Korea Investment Holdings to his eldest son, Chairman Kim Nam-goo, and the food and fisheries-focused Dongwon Group to his second son, Chairman Kim Nam-jung, organizing the succession structure.