What Is PDRN? From an Italian Drug to Chinese Skincare
By Jotham Lim
4 min read
PDRN, or polydeoxyribonucleotide, is a mix of DNA fragments usually taken from salmon or trout. It began as an ingredient in an Italian drug and became known in Korea through clinic injections. On our reading it then reached Chinese skincare without a new approval, because it goes into cosmetics under an ingredient already listed, sodium DNA.
This article covers the first chapter of the full report, China's Online Sales of PDRN Skincare 2023–2026, which measures how quickly skincare named after PDRN has grown in China's online sales. It describes where the ingredient came from and how it is listed. Nothing here is a claim about what PDRN or any product does to the skin.
Key figures
- 2008: PharmaResearch takes the Korean rights to Placentex, an Italian PDRN drug
- 2014: Rejuran, the "salmon injection", launches in Korea
- Entry 383: sodium DNA (DNA 钠) in the inventory of ingredients already used in Chinese cosmetics
- CN¥ 2.2 billion: online sales of skincare named after PDRN across three of China's largest marketplaces, October 2025 to September 2026
Method and scope: sales figures are online sales across three of China's largest marketplaces, modelled from observed listings and prices, from Moojing Market Intelligence; not the total market, because physical stores, clinics and several other marketplaces are not included. A PDRN listing is a skincare product whose title contains "PDRN". Readings of the rules are ours, and only a regulator can decide how they apply.
Where does PDRN come from?#
PDRN is a mixture of DNA fragments purified from the sperm of trout and salmon, according to a 2017 paper in Frontiers in Pharmacology. Mastelli, a company founded in Sanremo in 1952, sells it as a drug called Placentex. In 2008 Korea's PharmaResearch took the exclusive Korean rights to Placentex, and in 2013 it opened a plant in Gangneung that makes PDRN and a related ingredient, polynucleotide (PN), from salmon rather than trout, Money Today reported.
What is the difference between PDRN and PN, and what is the salmon shot?#
The "salmon shot" is the popular name for PN and PDRN injections, a label that grew up around a Korean product. PharmaResearch launched Rejuran, a PN injection, in Korea in 2014, and the injection became known as the "salmon injection" from about 2019. The company points out that Rejuran contains PN rather than PDRN, a distinction that the popular name blurs.
From the clinics PDRN moved into creams and serums. By October 2026 PDRN creams had become a draw for tourists in Korean pharmacies, according to a pharmacist in Seoul's Myeong-dong quoted by The Korea Herald.
| When | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1952 | Mastelli founded in Sanremo; it later sold Placentex, a PDRN drug |
| 2008 | PharmaResearch takes the Korean rights to Placentex |
| 2014 | Rejuran, the "salmon injection", launched in Korea |
| July 2024 | Bio-FD&C and Korea Kolmar register a patent on PDRN from rose plant cells |
| January 2025 | Biosynthetic PDRN reaches pilot production in China |
| July 2026 | Clinique launches what it calls the first recombinant PDRN skincare line |
Source: company statements and press reports, as cited in the full report.
How is PDRN listed in Chinese cosmetics?#
On our reading, PDRN needed no new approval to reach Chinese skincare, because it goes into cosmetics under an ingredient already listed. Under China's cosmetics regulation, only an ingredient used in Chinese cosmetics for the first time counts as a new ingredient that must be registered or filed, and the drug regulator, the NMPA, keeps an inventory of the ingredients already in use.
The inventory has no entry for PDRN, but it lists sodium DNA (DNA 钠) as entry 383, and sodium DNA is the name under which PDRN commonly appears on Chinese labels, the 21st Century Business Herald reported. We believe this is why online sales could start to rise as soon as demand did.
Because the label name may not show where an ingredient came from, the ingredient list may not tell a buyer whether PDRN came from salmon or from another source. We look at what product titles say about source in our article on salmon and clinic words.
How large is PDRN skincare in China now?#
Online sales of skincare named after PDRN reached about CN¥ 2.2 billion across three of China's largest marketplaces in the year to September 2026, according to Moojing Market Intelligence, which is about 0.67% of skincare sales there. The sales story is told in China's online PDRN skincare sales, prices in the average price of PDRN skincare and what brands can do about it in four moves for brands. More on the category sits on our China beauty market page, and the sources and rules behind this article are in the full report.
This content adheres to Moojing's editorial standards .
