Inside Hugel's 'K-toxin headquarters': How tears become global beauty empire

Botulinum toxin is filled into vials at Hugel's Geodu factory in Chuncheon. [Hugel]

Hugel's Geodu factory sits in the Geodu Industrial Complex in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province. This facility serves as the core production base of South Korea's "K-toxin" empire and has propelled Hugel to fifth place in the global botulinum toxin market, competing with multinational pharmaceutical giants like AbbVie, Galderma and Merz.

Strategically located near the Greater Seoul area with excellent transportation access, the factory maintains strict production controls that meet global regulatory standards throughout the entire process — from raw materials to finished product shipment.

Minus-70-degree storage: The unveiled value of national core technology

Inside the materials storage room at Hugel's Geodu factory in Chuncheon, where temperature and humidity are kept constant. [Hugel]

Inside the factory's materials storage room, a state-of-the-art building monitoring system maintains constant temperature and humidity. Trackless mobile racks designed to maximize storage space are densely packed with glass vials — pharmaceutical storage containers imported in batches of 600,000 units.

"We order these critical vials a year in advance, considering international conditions to ensure supply stability," a Geodu factory official said.

The raw material storage room operates under strict access controls and audits befitting its handling of national core technology. Maintained at minus-70 degrees Celsius or below, the facility houses tubes containing a transparent liquid equivalent to just a drop or two of tears. This tiny tube contains the source that produces approximately 25,080 vials of final product.

Cutting-edge sterile process minimizes human intervention, cuts lead time 40 percent

Botulinum toxin being filled into vials. [Hugel]

Beyond the glass windows, the finished product line operates as a showcase for massive automation robots. Prepared toxin solution fills vials at hundreds of shots per minute, then rubber stoppers are positioned in a half-closed alignment. Electric vehicle-type automated guided vehicles glide over to collect the vials before transporting them unmanned to the factory's largest equipment — the freeze dryer.

Every path the vials travel is enclosed in isolation equipment, maintaining the highest cleanliness rating of "Grade A" sterile conditions. Workers in goggles and sterile suits intervene only indirectly through special gloves when unexpected situations arise, such as vials tipping over.

"Botulinum toxin is a biological agent sensitive to even minute environmental changes, requiring complex process stability," said Seol Hee-soo, executive managing director of Hugel's production and quality division. "Through the introduction of cutting-edge automated equipment with no human intervention, we expect to reduce finished product manufacturing time by approximately 40 percent compared to existing processes."

The factory's B-wing, which began full commercial production last year, has built the latest automated lines to secure approximately 1.6 times the production capacity of the existing A-wing. This gives the Geodu factory an annual production capacity of up to 13 million vials for freeze-dried products.

Evolution to maximize production efficiency continues. Hugel plans to apply to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety around the end of this year for permission to change to a "reduced-pressure drying" process that can dramatically reduce process time by improving the existing freeze-drying method.

QR codes on every vial: Thorough tracking prevents misuse

Five types of botulinum toxin preparation "Botulax." [Hugel]

Moving to the packaging line, machines systematically fold boxes, include instruction manuals, and package vials. The most important technology in the final packaging stage is printing unique QR codes assigned to each product. This robust "trace system" can perfectly track domestic and international distribution processes, fundamentally preventing pharmaceutical misuse. Finished products exported overseas travel in special containers equipped with thermometers throughout to maintain refrigerated temperatures of 2-8 degrees Celsius even during air transport.

Hugel's competitiveness in 70 countries worldwide stems from successfully passing inspections by demanding overseas regulatory agencies. "We conduct thorough mock inspections for audits by global advanced agencies like the US Food and Drug Administration, and during last year's Middle East expansion inspection, we even prepared halal-certified food ingredients and prayer rooms to carefully consider the cultural characteristics of the partner country," a Hugel official said. Holding annual memorial services for laboratory animals sacrificed during product verification has also become a special culture unique to the Geodu factory. In line with its respect for life, Hugel is also pursuing development of alternative testing methods to animal testing.

The Geodu factory practices eco-friendly management by introducing geothermal heating and cooling systems and solar power generation. It serves as a strong engine for Hugel's growth. Hugel recorded a steep average annual sales growth rate of 16.4 percent from 2021 to 2025, achieving record-breaking performance in 2025 with sales of 425.1 billion won ($278 million) and operating profit of 200.9 billion won. Particularly, 69 percent of toxin-based sales now come from overseas, marking its complete transformation into a global company.

"We have currently submitted a PAS (Prior Approval Supplement) to the FDA for adding the B-wing manufacturing facility, and will pursue sequential licensing changes targeting major countries starting next year," Executive Managing Director Seol said. "We will comprehensively review global demand trends and market changes to determine the timing for additional factory scale-up from a mid- to long-term perspective."

silverpaper@heraldcorp.com