COSMAX Group Partners with Harvard Medical School to Expand into Biomedical Sector

On the 13th of this month, COSMAX Group signed a joint research agreement with the Massachusetts General Brigham (MGB) in Boston, aiming to expand its territory beyond cosmetics into the healthcare sector. This agreement signifies COSMAX’s commitment to advancing its bio-technology capabilities through strong industry and academic connections.

The signing ceremony featured key figures such as COSMAX Group Chairman Lee Kyung-soo, COSMAX BTI CEO Lee Byung-joo, and MGB Chief Development Officer Mike McNally, illustrating the global weight of this collaboration in the medical community.

Leveraging the results from their initial research conducted between 2024 and 2026, the partnership will now focus on expanding microbiome studies into next-generation bio-healthcare research and development.

The initial joint research has already yielded substantial outcomes. By correlating COSMAX’s accumulated skin microbiome big data with MGB’s global clinical data, the team identified that specific microbiome-derived substances can alleviate symptoms in models of atopic dermatitis and enhance skin barrier functions.

This research has been published in the prestigious journal 'Allergy', and COSMAX has already filed for a domestic patent on the related microbial-derived technologies, proving its foundational capability to produce world-class research outcomes.

The COSMAX and Harvard MGB collaboration will activate the second joint study, named the VIVA project, from 2026 to 2029. VIVA stands for Vision, Innovation, Vitality, and Advancement, reflecting the ambition to introduce a new future vision for the bio and cosmetics industries.

The project aims to broaden its scope to include the development of health functional ingredients and biopharmaceutical candidates. Utilizing MGB's clinical infrastructure, COSMAX plans to rapidly verify the efficacy and safety of these candidates, focusing on commercializing anti-aging and longevity solutions.

Notably, COSMAX is set to explore ingredients related to weight and metabolism management, targeting materials similar in mechanism to GLP-1, a widely utilized peptide in global medical discussions.

To secure advanced technology leadership, COSMAX is innovating its use of AI in their extensive bio-research infrastructure. The company aims to integrate AI not merely as a data validation tool, but as a collaborative science partner that helps design hypotheses and optimize candidates, thus significantly enhancing the speed and accuracy of research and development.

Additionally, COSMAX is ensuring that its research findings translate into practical applications by establishing a manufacturing base compliant with medical device and quality control standards. The company has developed a class II adhesive transparent wound dressing and a production system to prepare for the commercialization of bio-healthcare materials.

Chairman Lee expressed confidence in the collaboration, stating, "We have achieved tangible results with our first joint research through publications and patent filings. Through the VIVA project, we aim to establish technological leadership in the biomedical sector, starting from cosmetics." COSMAX has been committed to microbiome research since 2011, having commercialized the world's first microbiome cosmetics in 2019, and boasts an impressive array of about 3,100 microbial assets alongside 204 patents filed.

Recently, the company developed an analysis platform called FACE-LINK™, which categorizes 12 types of Korean skin. COSMAX continues to expand its open R&I (Open Research and Innovation) collaborations with 71 institutions and companies both domestically and internationally, engaging in 246 projects as of 2026.