Kohjin Bio Co., Ltd. (177A) Stock Price

Kojin Bio is a biotech company whose core business includes manufacturing and selling bacterial culture media, antigen test kits for in vitro diagnostics, and cell culture media, as well as providing cell processing services for medical institutions. The company supplies high-value-added products such as serum-free media used in regenerative medicine and biopharmaceutical development, along with rapid diagnostic test kits to research institutions, pharmaceutical companies, medical facilities, and other customers in the research and medical sectors.

Key customers include universities, research institutions, pharmaceutical companies, medical facilities, clinical testing centers, and pharmacies, with product sales forming the core of revenue. Additionally, the company generates contract revenue from cell processing services for medical institutions and from OEM and collaborative research arrangements. The company has expanded orders by responding to temporary increased production requests, such as for COVID-19 antigen test kits.

The business consists of three pillars: tissue culture operations, microbiology operations, and cell processing operations. The tissue culture division develops and sells serum-free and defined media under the KBM brand, with a focus on developing media for pharmaceutical manufacturing. The microbiology division offers bacterial culture media and antigen test kits in the KBM LineCheck series. The cell processing division expands and manufactures cells received from medical institutions at Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare-approved facilities, while also providing regulatory compliance support.

Kojin Bio pursues a strategy to enhance corporate value through expanding sales volume and profitability over the medium to long term. The company's vision is to achieve the number one domestic market share in the culture media industry and become the top seller of culture media by sales volume in Asia. To realize this, the company positions three business pillars—tissue culture, microbiology, and cell processing—as the core of growth, and is implementing concrete business expansion measures including expanding product lineups, strengthening sales operations, and entering the contract manufacturing of clinical trial cells (CDMO).

Key investment areas include advancing manufacturing technology and strengthening sales capabilities. The company differentiates itself through its "manufacturing excellence," which enables it to respond to custom orders and OEM contract manufacturing. By manufacturing culture media in-house and using it in its own cell processing operations, the company reduces cost of goods sold and maintains a system for rapid product quality improvement based on feedback from the field. The company maintains competitive advantages in both performance and price through "high-quality Japanese products" and technology development via joint research with universities and companies.

For new market development, the company targets Asia as a priority region, aiming to gain market share through product offerings tailored to local demand and expansion of sales distributor networks. In the microbiology business, the company is developing and launching simplified infection testing kits for the Asian market. In the cell processing business, it plans to strengthen contract manufacturing for clinical trials and establish new processing facilities overseas. Additionally, the company obtained OTC approval for certain antigen testing kit products in April 2023 and is expanding sales channels through drugstores and e-commerce platforms.

Regarding technology innovation, the company is advancing the development of high-performance, high-quality culture media to meet demand for regenerative medicine and biopharmaceuticals, and has announced plans for new dedicated manufacturing equipment designed for powdered culture media for pharmaceutical applications. Research and development proceeds through joint research with universities and companies. Alongside product improvements and new product development, the company is investing in strengthening quality management, regulatory compliance capabilities, and talent acquisition and development to continuously enhance its technology foundation.