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News & Events
Institut Pasteur Korea and Kangstem Biotech Sign Joint Research Deal on Hair Follicle Organoid Screening
2026-01-09
Institut Pasteur Korea and Kangstem Biotech
Sign Joint Research Deal on Hair Follicle Organoid Screening
- Joint Development of a screening platform utilizing hair follicle organoids -
- Joint Development of a screening platform utilizing hair follicle organoids -
(Dec. 24, 2025, Gyeonggi-do, Rep. of Korea) Institut Pasteur Korea (IPK) and Kangstem Biotech announced on December 24 that they have signed a joint research agreement to conduct collaborative research on hair follicle organoid-based screening.
Under this collaboration, IPK will establish a screening platform model utilizing hair follicle organoids produced and supplied by Kangstem Biotech. This agreement follows Kangstem Biotech’s announcement regarding the commercialization of its organoid products. It marks the first application of Kangstem Biotech’s standardized and reproducible hair follicle organoids to IPK’s screening research.
Sung Key Jang, CEO of Institut Pasteur Korea, stated, “This joint research serves as an opportunity to expand the IPK’s screening platform R&D capabilities, which have been accumulated in the field of infectious diseases, into a wider range of disease areas.” He added, “Through collaboration with Kangstem Biotech, we plan to establish a hair follicle organoid platform and connect our drug discovery screening expertise to R&D efforts across the broader industrial sector.”
Jong cheon Na, President of Kangstem Biotech, said, “Conventional hair loss drug development faces inherent limitations, as it is difficult to accurately predict human efficacy based only on 2D cell models or animal models. However, Kangstem Biotech’s hair follicle organoids faithfully reproduce the structure and physiological responses of actual human hair follicles while also being well suited to screening approaches that rapidly evaluate large numbers of candidate compounds. This enables simultaneous analysis of both efficacy and potential side effects, allowing for a level of precision that is difficult to achieve with existing models.”
This collaboration is drawing particular attention as it goes beyond a simple joint research project and aims to establish a new standard for organoid-based drug screening by integrating the respective technologies of the two institutions. Upon completion of the research, the two organizations plan to combine their capabilities to expand research and business activities into areas such as screening services for hair loss candidate compounds for pharmaceutical companies, organoid-based efficacy evaluation services, and the discovery of novel therapeutic targets for hair loss, thereby responding to industry demand.
Based on this collaboration, IPK plans to establish a cooperative research model that enables broader application of organoid-based efficacy evaluation studies in both research and industrial settings. Kangstem Biotech is expected to significantly enhance its competitiveness in the organoid sector, a high value-added market compared to conventional artificial skin or 2D models.
Under this collaboration, IPK will establish a screening platform model utilizing hair follicle organoids produced and supplied by Kangstem Biotech. This agreement follows Kangstem Biotech’s announcement regarding the commercialization of its organoid products. It marks the first application of Kangstem Biotech’s standardized and reproducible hair follicle organoids to IPK’s screening research.
Sung Key Jang, CEO of Institut Pasteur Korea, stated, “This joint research serves as an opportunity to expand the IPK’s screening platform R&D capabilities, which have been accumulated in the field of infectious diseases, into a wider range of disease areas.” He added, “Through collaboration with Kangstem Biotech, we plan to establish a hair follicle organoid platform and connect our drug discovery screening expertise to R&D efforts across the broader industrial sector.”
Jong cheon Na, President of Kangstem Biotech, said, “Conventional hair loss drug development faces inherent limitations, as it is difficult to accurately predict human efficacy based only on 2D cell models or animal models. However, Kangstem Biotech’s hair follicle organoids faithfully reproduce the structure and physiological responses of actual human hair follicles while also being well suited to screening approaches that rapidly evaluate large numbers of candidate compounds. This enables simultaneous analysis of both efficacy and potential side effects, allowing for a level of precision that is difficult to achieve with existing models.”
This collaboration is drawing particular attention as it goes beyond a simple joint research project and aims to establish a new standard for organoid-based drug screening by integrating the respective technologies of the two institutions. Upon completion of the research, the two organizations plan to combine their capabilities to expand research and business activities into areas such as screening services for hair loss candidate compounds for pharmaceutical companies, organoid-based efficacy evaluation services, and the discovery of novel therapeutic targets for hair loss, thereby responding to industry demand.
Based on this collaboration, IPK plans to establish a cooperative research model that enables broader application of organoid-based efficacy evaluation studies in both research and industrial settings. Kangstem Biotech is expected to significantly enhance its competitiveness in the organoid sector, a high value-added market compared to conventional artificial skin or 2D models.