South Korean companies have demonstrated their technological prowess by claiming the world’s top position in patent applications for hair loss cosmetics.
The Korea Intellectual Property Office analyzed the patent application data for hair loss cosmetics from major national patent offices (IP5: Korea, USA, China, Europe, Japan) between 2002 and 2023. On the 16th, it announced that Korea holds the highest market share at 42.9% (576 applications), followed by Japan (20.2%) and the USA (17.2%).
Hair loss cosmetics are functional cosmetics that help prevent hair loss by improving the health of the scalp and hair. The global market for hair loss cosmetics is expected to grow to approximately 31 trillion won by 2025.
In Korea, CareGen Co., Ltd. (115 applications), Amorepacific Corp. (72 applications), and LG Household & Health Care Ltd. (25 applications) are ranked within the top 10 companies for applications. Korea showed strengths in the fields of natural substances (50.0%) and bio-materials (56.4%), while the USA had an advantage in synthetic materials (32.6%).
Im Young-hee, Head of the Chemical and Biological Examination Bureau at the Korea Intellectual Property Office, stated, “Through this patent analysis, we have confirmed that the hair loss cosmetics market can be a blue ocean where Korea can gain technological leadership.” He added, “We will share the patent analysis results with the industry to help our companies lead the global hair loss cosmetics market and will continue to communicate so that the cosmetics industry can grow based on intellectual property.”