Facelift: South Korean beauty firm targets 'Ozempic face' using human fat

South Korea's L&C Bio plans an injectable skin booster from donated human fat to restore facial volume, targeting cosmetic concerns linked to GLP-1 weight-loss drugs

By Hyonhee Shin

  “Ozempic face” could spawn the next K-beauty craze. South Korean biotech L&C Bio plans to launch an injectable skin booster made from donated human fat to restore lost facial volume, betting demand for cosmetic fixes tied to blockbuster weight-loss drugs will drive its next phase of growth. 

L&C — which pioneered the use of donated human tissue in K-beauty skin boosters — developed the technology about five years ago, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Lee Whan Chul said in an interview. The company holds patents on the technology in South Korea, the United States (US) and China. 

 

South Korea has repeate-dly turned niche cosmetic procedures into global bea-uty trends, from glass skin regimens to salmon sperm facials and L&C’s flagship human tissue treatment Re2O. The next wave may shift from improving skin quality to restoring facial and body volume, which L&C Bio’s new product is designed to support.  

Unlike Re2O — which targets skin quality and wrinkles using donated skin tissue — the new treatment processes donated fat into an extracellular matrix that acts as a scaffold, allowing a patient’s own fat cells to repopulate treated areas and restore lost volume naturally. Lee sees the product — tentatively called MegaAdipoECM — addressing the hollow cheeks and sagging skin known as “Ozempic face” in GLP-1 users while also offering a biological alternative to silicone breast implants, whose long-term health risks include rupture.  

Commercialisation stalled because South Korean law classified donated fat as medical waste, preventing companies from recycling it, but that changed this year after lawmakers legalised the practice. L&C expects to launch the product after a one-year grace period, likely in late 2027.   

“We had already fully developed the technology, but regulatory hurdles forced us to explore manufacturing in Singapore or the US, where we received local proposals,” Lee said. “Now that we can manufacture directly at our domestic facilities, we can bring the product to the market much faster without spending additional raw material costs.” 

The legal change could drive profit because donated fat, once a disposal cost, will become a nearly-free raw material, Morgan Stanley analyst Mi Hyun Kim said. The firm targets 1 trillion won (over $700 million) in revenue by 2030 across its human tissue platform, powered by Re2O.   

The global dermal fillers market is expected to more than double to $17 billion by 2035, according to Precedence Research. Asia is leading the expansion, fuelled by surging demand for non-surgical facials and rapidly aging populations.  

Technology is likely to reignite debate over using donated human matter — including tissue and now fat — for cosmetic procedures. Critics say commercialising donations could undermine altruistic donations and divert scarce material from burn victims and trauma patients, while Lee says donors explicitly consent to aesthetic use and shortages are overstated.