Amorepacific backs Junevity to hunt skin-ageing pathways

Amorepacific, the K-beauty group that owns Laneige, has made a strategic investment in biotechnology company Junevity through its corporate venture arm, Amorepacific Ventures. The deal is accompanied by a separate licensing agreement covering cosmetic field applications for Junevity's technology.

The collaboration centres on Junevity's RESET Platform, a target-discovery engine the firm will use to uncover novel pathways behind skin ageing. That engine will be paired with Amorepacific's own knowledge of skin biology, cosmetic development and commercialisation across the group's brands.

The two companies will jointly seek out pathways suitable for cosmetic applications that aim to reset and rejuvenate skin gene networks, steering them toward a healthier state. Amorepacific will take the lead on developing and commercialising any resulting cosmetic products.

Junevity, for its part, will keep advancing therapeutic applications of its platform in parallel. John Hoekman, the firm's co-founder and chief executive, said the partnership with what he called a leader in skin science broadens the scope of the company's approach across new markets.

Hoekman added that the deal opens additional avenues for long-term value, and pointed to the same innovative approach feeding Junevity's therapeutic pipeline. That pipeline includes a lead siRNA candidate for obesity that he said is now headed into human clinical trials.

Brian Byung-Fhy SUH, chief technology officer of Amorepacific's R&I Center, framed the tie-up in terms of gene science. He said the next generation of skin health innovation will draw on deeper insight into the biology of skin ageing, particularly gene networks and transcriptional regulation in longevity.

What the collaboration covers

"The cutting-edge work by the team at Junevity and their sophisticated RESET Platform will enable us to explore novel pathways underlying skin ageing and advance our research toward longevity solutions," SUH said in a statement announcing the deal.

He also flagged that the joint research is intended to explore hybrid technologies through collaboration across adjacent fields, opening what he described as new possibilities for long-term skin health. Neither company disclosed the size of the investment or the terms of the licensing agreement.

The division of labour is plain. Amorepacific brings cosmetic development and commercialisation, while Junevity contributes the discovery engine and keeps its therapeutic work. The investment and the licence are two separate instruments, one an equity stake from the venture arm, the other a cosmetic-field agreement.

Hoekman said the partnership demonstrates the breadth of Junevity's approach and its potential to open new doors for the platform and extend its reach into new markets. That is a statement about the platform's range, made by a company whose headline asset is an obesity drug.

The biotech partner

Junevity brings a platform used for therapeutic work rather than cosmetics, which is what makes the licensing agreement notable. Its lead programme is an siRNA candidate aimed at obesity, a treatment area far removed from moisturiser and serum, now moving toward human trials.

By licensing only the cosmetic field, Junevity keeps its therapeutic applications with itself. Amorepacific, in turn, leads cosmetic development and commercialisation, so the two companies' roles do not overlap on the products each side expects to pursue.

SUH's reference to transcriptional regulation signals how technical the collaboration intends to be. Rather than screening ingredients, the work examines how gene networks change with age and how cosmetics might reset those networks toward a healthier state.

Amorepacific has not said when the first products from the collaboration might reach shelves, how the joint research will be funded, or which of its brands would carry the resulting formulas. The announcement stops at the ambition and the structure of the partnership.

The stated aim of the research is longevity solutions for skin, and SUH tied it to long-term skin health. Amorepacific's R&I Center is the unit whose chief technology officer is fronting the deal, which places the work inside the group's research organisation.

For a Korean beauty sector crowded with claims about ingredients and actives, the Junevity tie-up gives Amorepacific a claim grounded in genomics. Whether that translates into products consumers can distinguish remains open; the research is only now being framed as a joint programme.

Support the content you love — it’s free 🎉

Add Worthbury as a preferred source on Google. Our stories will be more likely to appear in Google’s Top Stories. It’s free and supports our team. Thank you!

Add as preferred source

You can remove us any time in Google’s source preferences.

This briefing is published daily using an AI-powered system crafted by Worthbury's team and finely tuned to meet our editorial standards. While we continuously test and review the output, mistakes can sometimes happen. Tell us if you spot one.

Image: Amorepacific