For years, Polydeoxyribonucleotide (PDRN) occupied a niche corner of aesthetic medicine. Derived primarily from salmon DNA, the ingredient was largely associated with injectable skin boosters used in dermatology clinics across South Korea and Europe. Today, however, PDRN is rapidly entering mainstream skincare, and increasingly it’s doing so without salmon.
According to Spate, interest in vegan PDRN is accelerating at a remarkable pace. The term has grown 414.3% year over year on TikTok, where it now generates 1.1 million average weekly views. Rising interest in the ingredient is also being shaped by unexpected associations, including banana-derived PDRN alternatives, a related category that attracts an average of 28,300 weekly views on the platform.
The surge reflects a broader shift underway in beauty that supports the skin's natural renewal process. As consumers become more interested in longevity, skin repair, and biotech-driven ingredients, brands are racing to develop vegan alternatives to traditionally animal-derived actives. The question is no longer whether PDRN will become a mainstream skincare ingredient; it’s what form it will take.
PDRN is composed of purified DNA fragments, typically derived from salmon or trout DNA. PDRN, long used in medical applications such as accelerating wound healing, is now finding its way into aesthetic treatments.
“The rise of vegan PDRN is directly connected to the massive popularity of PDRN as a biological category,” Dr. Shuting Hu, cosmetic chemist, skin biologist, and founder of Acaderma skincare, told BeautyMatter. “European pharmaceutical companies, particularly in Italy, have been successfully utilizing and patenting PDRN and polynucleotides for decades in tissue repair and clinical aesthetics.”
As consumer awareness of PDRN has expanded beyond clinics, so too has scrutiny around sourcing. Ethical concerns, vegan lifestyles, sustainability considerations, and formulation challenges associated with marine-derived ingredients have created demand for alternative approaches. At the same time, advances in biotechnology have made those alternatives possible.
“PDRN has evolved,” Daniel Isaacs, Chief Product Officer and founding partner of Medik8, told BeautyMatter. “Advances in biotechnology mean some forms are now vegan. PDRN molecules can be created through biotechnology using microorganisms as natural bio-factories.”
Today’s vegan PDRN landscape includes ingredients derived through microbial fermentation, microalgae cultivation, and botanical extraction from sources such as rice, ginseng, and other plant materials.
For some brands, the move toward vegan PDRN is driven by consumer demand. For others, it is a natural extension of broader philosophies of formulation. At INMI Seoul, the decision to pursue a rice-derived PDRN ingredient stemmed from both cultural and scientific considerations.
“Two things drove [the decision]: philosophy and coherence,” Andrew (Min Chan) Kim, CEO and co-founder of INMI Seoul, told BeautyMatter. “INMI Seoul is built around Korean heritage ingredients. We choose actives based on origin specificity and genuine efficacy, not on what’s already established in the market.”
Rather than adopting salmon-derived PDRN, the brand partnered with Korean biotechnology company BIO-FD&C to utilize PhytoPDRN, a plant-derived PDRN extracted from Korean rice through a patented process. The resulting ingredient is certified vegan by both The Vegan Society in the UK and the Korea Agency of Vegan Certification and Services.
The approach highlights a growing divide emerging within the category. While some brands focus on securing a trending ingredient claim, others use vegan PDRN as part of broader innovation efforts rooted in biotechnology and ingredient provenance.
“Consumer perception is the loudest driver right now,” Kim noted. “What I find more interesting—and more durable—is the formulation innovation angle. The technology got good enough to make the claim real.”
From a biological standpoint, experts largely agree that PDRN’s core mechanism remains consistent regardless of source. Both traditional and vegan versions function as DNA fragments that interact with cellular pathways associated with repair and regeneration.
“The core mechanism of action is identical,” said Dr. Hu. “Both animal-derived and vegan PDRN aim to provide low-molecular-weight DNA fragments that serve the same foundational purpose: acting as cell-signaling biostimulators.”
The differences lie in sourcing, molecular structure, delivery systems, and formulation performance.
According to Hu, next-generation vegan PDRN technologies may offer advantages in molecular weight control, thermal stability, and transdermal delivery. Certain bio-fermented and plant-derived versions can be engineered to achieve smaller, more consistent molecular profiles that may enhance topical penetration compared to traditional marine-derived alternatives.
Medik8 has focused heavily on this challenge. Its prismatic PDRN technology is said to use bioengineered DNA structures folded into a three-dimensional nanostructure, thereby improving skin absorption and stability.
“Traditional PDRN molecules are large,” said Isaacs. “This makes it difficult for them to penetrate the skin’s barrier effectively when applied to the skin’s surface. The delivery mechanism is everything.”
As enthusiasm for PDRN grows, experts caution that consumer understanding of the ingredient remains limited. One of the biggest misconceptions involves the relationship between injectable and topical PDRN products.
“People assume topical PDRN replicates injectable results,” said Kim. “It doesn’t.”
Injectable treatments deliver PDRN directly into the dermis, where they can influence deeper tissue regeneration. Topical products, by contrast, operate primarily within the epidermis and skin barrier environment.
Dr. Hu also warns against exaggerated anti-aging claims. “Topical PDRN cannot reverse your chronological age, nor can it completely halt cellular senescence,” she said. “It is a tool for skin optimization and longevity, not a time machine.”
The category also faces a broader evidence gap. While substantial research exists around injectable PDRN and post-procedure applications, experts say more independent clinical studies are needed to validate the performance of topical formulations on intact skin.
“The industry has a habit of using borrowed data,” said Hu. “A lot of the impressive clinical proof brands point to actually comes from medical studies on PDRN injections.”
Despite concerns around overmarketing, few industry observers see vegan PDRN as a short-lived phenomenon. The infrastructure supporting the category is growing rapidly, from patented extraction technologies and biotechnology platforms to expanding clinical research and certification standards.
“The science is there to support PDRN being a long-term category contender,” said Isaacs.
The INMI representative agrees, citing patented extraction processes, peer-reviewed safety validation studies, and growing investment in plant-based biotechnology. Still, the brands likely to succeed may be those that move beyond the ingredient itself.
As more companies enter the space, differentiation will increasingly depend on formulation systems, delivery technologies, sourcing transparency, and measurable results—not simply adding “vegan PDRN” to a label.
“Most competitors will optimize for the claim,” said Kim. “We will optimize for the experience, the cultural meaning, and the results.”
For consumers, that distinction may ultimately determine whether vegan PDRN follows the path of ingredients like snail mucin—remaining a niche K-beauty curiosity—or joins hyaluronic acid and peptides as a permanent fixture in the skincare lexicon. If current growth trajectories are any indication, the category is already well on its way.
