Major Breakthrough: Yaohai Novagen Successfully Completes Pilot Testing of Recombinant PDRN and Recombinant Mussel Adhesive Protein Raw Materials
Recently, Yaohai Novagen Biotech Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Yaohai Novagen"), a platform-level medical device enterprise integrating R&D, production, and sales in the field of innovative medical aesthetic raw materials and products, officially announced that it has made breakthrough progress in the research and development of two high-value raw materials: recombinant Polydeoxyribonucleotide (rPDRN) and recombinant Mussel Adhesive Protein. Yaohai Novagen has successfully completed the strain construction and process development for these two raw materials, breaking through the pilot testing stage and formally entering the process scale-up and optimization stage of intermediate testing.
This also marks that Yaohai Novagen has achieved new key results on the green research and production path of using microbial expression systems to replace traditional animal-derived extraction, providing safer, more efficient, and more sustainable raw material solutions for the global medical aesthetics and cosmetics markets.
Overcoming Technical Barriers, Actively Promoting the Industry Upgrade from "Extraction" to "Recombinant"
PDRN and Mussel Adhesive Protein are currently star ingredients in the medical aesthetics and high-end skincare markets. Traditional PDRN is mainly extracted from trout and salmon testes rich in nucleic acids, while Mussel Adhesive Protein is derived from the byssus gland of deep-sea mussels. Both face many challenges such as limited sources, potential immunogenicity risks, batch-to-batch stability differences, and ethical and environmental concerns.
Relying on the strong synthetic biology platform and genetic engineering technology of its parent company, Yaohai Biologics, Yaohai Novagen no longer passively extracts from natural products but actively "designs" and "manufactures," successfully constructing engineered strains that efficiently express recombinant PDRN and recombinant Mussel Adhesive Protein. The core of this R&D breakthrough is that Yaohai Novagen has not only achieved high-efficiency expression of the target products but also completed multi-faceted verification of their sequence structure, purity, biological activity, and stability on a pilot scale.
The results show that Yaohai Novagen, based on the advantages of its parent company, Yaohai Biologics, in the field of microbial expression systems, has strong independent R&D capabilities for recombinant products. Its products are comparable or even superior to traditional extracts in core functions, free from dependence on animal sources, and possess significant advantages in purity, safety, and potential for large-scale production.
Broad Market Prospects for the Two Raw Materials, Yaohai Novagen Makes Forward-Looking Layout in Golden Tracks
• Recombinant PDRN: PDRN is renowned for its excellent tissue repair and regeneration capabilities and is widely used in regenerative medical aesthetics projects such as hydrofacials and microneedling. It can effectively promote wound healing, reduce inflammation and soothe, stimulate collagen production, and improve skin texture and tone, with market demand continuously rising. Recombinant PDRN overcomes the limitations of extraction from natural sources, offering new possibilities for industrial production.
• Recombinant Mussel Adhesive Protein: Known as the "universal adhesive," it exhibits strong adhesion, biocompatibility, and antioxidant properties. It has huge application potential in high-end functional skincare (such as intensive moisturizing and barrier repair), medical dressings, and future potential tissue adhesion devices. Achieving its recombinant production is key to breaking the natural resource bottleneck and promoting large-scale commercial application.
Facing these two popular raw materials in the field of regenerative medical aesthetics, the industry is generally optimistic about their market prospects.
According to a market research report by QYResearch, the global PDRN market is showing rapid growth: the market size reached $25.77 million in 2022 and is expected to climb to $284.78 million by 2029, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 43.32% between 2023 and 2029.
Yaohai Novagen, leveraging the industry-leading advantages accumulated over more than a decade by its parent company, Yaohai Biologics, in the field of microbial expression systems, has set its sights on the two golden tracks of recombinant PDRN and recombinant Mussel Adhesive Protein. It initiated systematic R&D work in 2024. After a year of efficient efforts, the company has successfully completed the process development for these two major raw materials and steadily passed pilot testing verification, achieving a phased breakthrough. The next step for Yaohai Novagen is to fully advance the optimization and scale-up of the intermediate testing process, accelerating the industrialization of these two high-barrier raw materials.
