Gyeongnam Pharmaceutical-Cloud Air Selected for National Project on 'Astaxanthin Next-Generation Antioxidant Health Functional Food Material'

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hyowon] Gyeongnam Pharmaceutical and Cloud Air announced on the 28th that health functional food materials, including greenhouse gas reduction-type natural astaxanthin derived from microalgae being developed in collaboration with Korea University, have recently been selected for the Ministry of Science and ICT’s ‘Public Research Performance Utilization Promotion R&D’ national project and will receive government support for three years.

This is an eco-friendly green technology that significantly reduces greenhouse gases, the main cause of global warming, while rapidly converting them into the bioavailable substance astaxanthin. Gyeongnam Pharmaceutical will participate in this national project as a ‘demand company’ for the commercialization of technology to develop bone/joint individual recognition-type natural astaxanthin health functional food materials derived from microalgae, led by Korea University, the host institution of the ‘3rd subdivision’ of the ‘Bio Translational Research Group.’

Gyeongnam Pharmaceutical is currently developing next-generation health functional materials derived from natural antioxidant components in response to Korea’s social challenge of entering a super-aged society. Through this research project, the company aims to develop bone/joint functional materials using bio astaxanthin, a powerful antioxidant component with antioxidant capacity 6,000 times that of vitamin C.

Earlier, on March 4, Cloud Air completed the technology transfer of three exclusive patents related to the ‘rapid conversion method of astaxanthin using carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions’ from Korea University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation. Specifically, Cloud Air holds core industrial strains (non-GMO) of Haematococcus for astaxanthin production and core patent technologies for four-season photobioreactor cultivation to commercialize this technology.

A company representative stated, “In the case of bone functionality, the material is rare as a functional material, and the related market has recently entered a rapid growth trajectory, so it seems necessary to secure hegemony in the future. Above all, if this technology is successfully commercialized, it will be possible to supply domestic supercritical Haematococcus extract raw materials at a relatively lower price than imported products sold at high prices in the market, which is expected to have a significant import substitution effect for natural astaxanthin bio raw materials that have so far relied entirely on imports.”