Hello, I am Mr. Park Chul, who took over as the CEO of Amicogen on March 13, 2023, succeeding the current Chairman of the Board of Directors, Mr. Shin, Yong-chul, who is the founder of Amicogen.

I have been focusing on the company’s technology development since its foundation, and my decision to take over as CEO is to overcome the current difficult times and grow into a global bio-industry company specializing in industrial enzymes and healthcare, which I have been pursuing and challenging.

I feel a heavy responsibility as the new CEO, but we will continue to actively pursue innovative technology development and business to improve our healthcare business, industrial special enzymes business, and newly launched bioprocess components and materials business.

We are in the midst of one of the most uncertain and challenging times ever. The global economy had barely recovered from the painful memories of COVID-19 when major economies launched competitive interest rate hikes in the name of anti-coronavirus policies, driving global financial markets into a whirlwind. In addition, rising inflation and raw material costs due to the Russia-Ukraine war, slowed reopening in China, and supply chain deterioration due to the US-China conflict added to the uncertainty of the global economic situation. Domestically, the biotech industry was not immune to the recession as the overall economic and financial situation was challenging.

Amicogen’s performance in 2022 showed year-on-year growth in sales, both individually and consolidated, but the pace of growth slowed down and we were unable to achieve operating profit that turned into a surplus. We are deeply sorry to our customers and shareholders.

Amicogen is going through a period of significant business change.

First, for the enzyme/biopharmaceutical business, which has been Amicogen’s cash cow, we have been making a lot of preparations to break out of the regional limitations of China and limitations of the business area that has been centered on antibiotics. We are expanding our enzyme business to food, bioprocess, and therapeutic enzymes centered on antibiotic enzymes, and we are expanding the business centered on China to global businesses such as third countries. The DX business has also overcome many difficulties and succeeded in the 7-ADCA business, and the 7-ACA business has been delayed, but we are continuing to develop it. Accordingly, we expect good results shortly. Following the existing enzyme business, we are expanding into the enzyme therapeutics business, including the next-generation antibiotic business, by entering the endolysin business, which is an enzyme substance, and we will grow it into a new growth engine business by accumulating experience and internal capabilities through interchanges with global leading companies in this field.

Next, for the healthcare business, which has been driving Amicogen’s growth, we have the world’s best technology and products as eco-friendly functional biomaterials using enzymes and fermentation technology. Collagen tripeptide, NAG, DCI, grain fermentase, hangover relieving enzyme, and Bifidobacterium of Amicogen’s subsidiary Bifido are the world’s best functional dry materials for healthcare. We have been continuously growing the Amicogen and Knutra brands in the global healthcare market, focusing on the B2B business of functional materials under the brand Amicogen for a long time and selling our functional products under the brand Knutra. Recently, our raw material of collagen was recognized as a functional individual type by the KFDA, and we plan to strategically expand our healthcare business by using the newly expanded factory for producing dry finished products. We are continuously developing technology for new functional individual types and plan to continue to introduce new functional materials to the market.

Lastly, we schedule to complete the construction of two factories in Songdo and Yeosu by 2023 for the biopharmaceutical component materials business, which the company has been promoting as a future business. This is the business that we have been preparing for the longest time and with the most resources since our foundation. In particular, we have been preparing media and resins, which are core components for the production of biopharmaceuticals, and the market is dominated by major global companies. As a company in the bio business, we have been putting our company’s life on the line to create world-class biomedical material products to contribute to the development of the Korean bio industry. However, we recognize that our will alone will have limits. With the help and encouragement of major domestic bio companies in the technology development process, we are developing products that can compete with global leaders. We are in the process of building a factory, and first, we are building a pilot-scale production facility to produce on a small scale and are going to start trial production and commercial production as soon as the factory is completed at the end of 2023. As the CSO of the group, Mr. Shin, who is also the founder, has expressed his determination to go all-in for the success of this project.

Dear Valued Customers & Shareholders,

I would like to express my gratitude to you for your trust and unwavering interest in our company. I promise you that all employees of Amicogen will work determined to die to achieve operating surpluses and succeed in new businesses, and I, as the new CEO, promise to be judged by the performance of Amicogen’s performance and value enhancement.

I hope you will continue to love Amicogen and wish all our customers and shareholders the best of luck at home and work.

Thank you.