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Wontek (336570.KQ) is looking to extend the success of Olleodio, its radio-frequency aesthetic medical device, into devices for treating hair loss and obesity. As the markets for hair-loss and obesity treatment grow rapidly, the company is re-releasing upgraded versions of its existing approved devices while seeking hair-loss treatment approval for its aesthetic device Lavieien. It aims to become a global company spanning both aesthetic and surgical equipment on the strength of core technologies such as lasers.
In an interview with Seoul Economic Daily at the company’s headquarters in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province, on the 10th, Wontek Chairman Kim Jong-won said, “Word spread among doctors in South and North America that Lavieien has a strong hair-growth effect, and about 600 units sold in roughly a year.” He added, “Once word began to spread in Brazil, a U.S. company proposed a distribution agreement first, and we signed on favorable terms.” He also said, “We are preparing to obtain formal approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in Korea as well, for use in hair-loss treatment.” Lavieien is a device that uses lasers to treat pigmentation such as melasma and blemishes and to regenerate skin. Winning approval from the drug safety ministry through exploratory and confirmatory clinical trials is expected to take two to three years.
This is not the first time Wontek has developed a hair-loss treatment device. The company launched Hairbeam, a low-level laser-based medical device for treating hair loss, back in 2017. Hairbeam received approval not only from the drug safety ministry but also from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). With the helmet-shaped product, laser and light-emitting diode (LED) energy penetrates the scalp to increase blood flow. “We are redesigning it into a wireless form so that people can use Hairbeam while lying on a home massage chair,” Kim said. “Hairbeam is generating substantial revenue without any marketing at all, so after the upgrade, sales should grow quickly.”
Wontek is looking beyond hair loss to the obesity treatment market as well, as it prepares to re-release Ultralipo, an obesity treatment device that uses high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU). Ultralipo received drug safety ministry approval as a device that helps reduce abdominal circumference by an average of 2 centimeters in people with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher and abdominal fat 2.5 centimeters thick. It works by delivering ultrasound energy beneath the skin to break down body fat. “With recently improved technology, we are preparing to make Ultralipo usable on the face and thighs as well,” Kim said. “After using Ultralipo myself, my waist shrank from 34 inches to 31 inches.”
This could also have a positive effect on the company’s rapidly growing earnings. Wontek’s revenue rose about threefold, from 51.1 billion won ($36.8 million) in 2021 to 156.8 billion won ($113 million) last year. Over the same period, operating profit grew even more steeply, from 10.4 billion won to 52.6 billion won. The Olleodio series, which launched in 2020 and has sold more than 4,600 units cumulatively through last year, played a decisive role. More than half of that revenue came from overseas. Last year, overseas sales accounted for 71% of Wontek’s total revenue.
Kim’s goal is to extend this growth from aesthetic medicine into surgical equipment. That is why Wontek, unusually among domestic aesthetic medical device firms, has maintained direct owner management rather than being sold to a private equity fund. Its main products include surgical equipment for treating urinary stones and enlarged prostates. “When we first developed Olleodio, the domestic aesthetic medical market was effectively dominated by foreign devices such as Ulthera and Thermage, but now Olleodio’s sales have surpassed them,” Kim said. “Based on competitive laser technology, we are confident we can also localize surgical equipment that foreign products have taken over.”
#Wontek#Olleodio#HairLoss#MedicalDevices#Kbeauty#HIFU#MedTech
Original reporting by Park Hyo-jung for Seoul Economic Daily
AI-translated from Korean. Quotes from foreignxact original wording
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