For decades, South Korean pharmaceutical company Daewoong Pharmaceutical was best known at home for Ursa, a liver treatment that became a household name and one of the country’s most recognizable drug brands.
Today, however, the company’s growth story is increasingly being written outside South Korea—and far beyond the liver-treatment market.
Driven by the overseas success of Nabota, its botulinum toxin product marketed in the United States as Jeuveau, and the expansion of prescription drug Fexuclue, Daewoong Pharmaceutical is transforming itself from a domestically focused drugmaker into a company whose future depends increasingly on exports and specialty medicines.
The shift reflects a broader evolution taking place across South Korea’s pharmaceutical industry. Long overshadowed by the country’s semiconductor, automotive and consumer electronics sectors, Korean drugmakers are increasingly seeking growth through innovative medicines and international markets rather than relying solely on domestic demand.
According to company data, combined revenue from Ursa, Nabota and Fexuclue reached approximately $280 million last year, accounting for nearly one-third of Daewoong Pharmaceutical’s standalone sales.
Ursa remains an important pillar of the business. First introduced in 1961, the product generated about $66 million in revenue last year, reaching a record high more than six decades after its launch. Daewoong has extended the drug’s commercial lifespan by expanding its medical applications and developing dosage-specific treatment strategies, allowing the product to maintain relevance in South Korea’s prescription-drug market.
Yet the company’s center of gravity has shifted decisively toward Nabota.
The botulinum toxin treatment generated approximately $150 million in sales last year, more than double Ursa’s revenue and the highest annual figure in the product’s history. More significantly, roughly 84% of Nabota sales came from overseas markets, highlighting how dependent the product has become on international demand.
The United States sits at the center of that strategy.
Nabota is sold in the U.S. through aesthetic medicine company Evolus under the brand name Jeuveau, competing in one of the world’s most lucrative cosmetic injectable markets. The product has secured an estimated 14% share of the U.S. aesthetic toxin segment, giving Daewoong Pharmaceutical a meaningful presence in a market historically dominated by larger global competitors.
For American investors and healthcare industry observers, the significance extends beyond a single product.
The success of Jeuveau demonstrates how a South Korean pharmaceutical company can leverage the U.S. market not only as a source of revenue but also as a platform for global expansion. Daewoong is now using its U.S. foothold to accelerate growth across Latin America and the Middle East and North Africa region, where it has already entered 10 countries.
The company has set a goal of increasing Nabota’s global revenue to approximately $330 million by 2030 through additional research and development investments and continued international expansion.
At the same time, Fexuclue, a prescription medicine developed by Daewoong Pharmaceutical, is emerging as another strategic growth driver as the company builds a portfolio less dependent on mature legacy products.
The result is a markedly different company from the one that built its reputation on a liver treatment prescribed primarily to Korean patients. While Ursa remains an enduring symbol of Daewoong Pharmaceutical’s history, the company’s future increasingly depends on whether products like Jeuveau can continue winning market share in the United States and other overseas markets.
For South Korea’s pharmaceutical sector, Daewoong’s transformation offers a glimpse of a larger ambition: turning locally developed medicines into globally recognized brands capable of competing in some of the industry’s most profitable markets.
