Recently, Choi Jeong-yun, CEO of HealthyMed, made these remarks during a meeting with E-Daily’s pharmaceutical and biotech premium content platform, Pharm E-Daily, as she pulled out a drug testing kit designed for beverages. As she fastened the wristband-style kit onto the reporter’s wrist, a thin paper strip—resembling an amusement park admission wristband—wrapped around it. The strip featured a series of droplet-shaped reaction zones where suspicious substances could be tested.
Following CEO Choi’s instructions, he dipped his finger into the barley tea held before him and dabbed it onto one of the reaction zones, thoroughly saturating it. “Since it’s barley tea, the color didn’t change,” CEO Choi explained, “but if a narcotic substance had been mixed in, the color of the droplet in the corresponding reaction zone would have changed.” He added, “This allows for a quick on-site check to determine whether narcotics have been mixed into drinks or food.”
HealthyMed supplies drug test kits primarily to investigative and law enforcement agencies such as the National Police Agency and the prosecution, so the company is still relatively unknown to the general public. However, its products are commonly encountered at crime scenes. For example, when police need to verify a suspected drug user, they can pull out the company’s saliva-based drug test kit on the spot and conduct an immediate test.
From Law Enforcement to Personal Use… The Popularization of Drug Testing BeginsCEO Choi’s background for entering the drug testing kit business is somewhat unusual. He originally worked in real estate development, but after retiring, he turned his attention to the drug problem while searching for socially meaningful work.
CEO Choi said, “In my 20s, when I was a study abroad student, I was shocked to see friends around me easily accessing drugs,” adding, “Later, even in South Korea—which had long been perceived as a drug-free country—I became increasingly aware of the problem as I observed the reality that access to drugs has recently surged, particularly among teenagers and young adults, through the internet and the dark web.”
He continued, “We founded the company by bringing together people who share a commitment to solving social problems,” adding, “We’ve also been working diligently on development with the help of PhD-level talent, including those who previously participated in developing the film used in Samsung and Apple smartphone cameras.”
HealthyMed began developing related technologies—including COVID-19 and drug diagnostic kits—as early as 2020, prior to the company’s official establishment, while simultaneously building partnerships and navigating the approval process with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. After development stabilized, the company established its current legal entity last year to facilitate product supply and has been fully engaged in the in vitro diagnostics business since this year.
HealthyMed views “prevention” as the core of the market. The company believes it is far more socially efficient to prevent addiction altogether through early detection and education than to incur the costs of treatment and rehabilitation after drug use has already occurred. CEO Choi said, “It is crucial to determine how to effectively conduct preventive education in schools and communities, as well as how to distribute tools that can quickly confirm suspected cases,” adding, “Although we are a business, we want to operate in a way that also considers our social contribution.”
This direction is also reflected in the company’s product portfolio. HealthyMed’s drug testing kit, “K-Rapid Check,” is a medical device available in two test types: saliva-based and urine-based. Additionally, the company separately sells consumer-grade products—including substance-testing kits for non-human samples such as beverages and food, as well as preventive awareness products for the general public. This allows users to detect suspicious substances not only in human specimens but also in beverages and food, depending on the situation.
In particular, the preventive awareness products are personal items designed to raise awareness of potential risks—such as those encountered during overseas travel—and serve as a reference guide. The reporter tested various models, including bracelet-style, pocket-sized, and stick-type versions, all designed to enhance portability and practicality. This effectively expands the product line—previously supplied exclusively to government agencies—to the business-to-consumer (B2C) market.
CEO Choi said, “Even on Korean ships docked abroad, passengers could be exposed to risks by dining at restaurants in countries where certain drugs are permitted, so we’ve made the products available for purchase at ports and airports as well,” adding, “We are expanding our product lineup so that people can prepare for dangerous situations anytime, anywhere.”
Detects
71 Types of Drugs… Strengths in ‘Sensitivity and Customization’In terms of technological competitiveness, HealthyMed boasts the lowest cut-off value among domestic in vitro diagnostic kits. The cut-off is an indicator showing the minimum level of drug components remaining in the body that can be detected. A lower value means the kit can detect even trace amounts.
For professional-grade test indicators, the cut-off levels are 300 ng/mL for methamphetamine (MET) and 100 ng/mL for cocaine (CoC), which are lower than the 500–1,000 ng/mL for MET and 300 ng/mL for cocaine (COC) found in some competing products. Detection accuracy is also reported to be high, ranging from 95% to 99%.
CEO Choi stated, “Our product can detect drugs even more than two weeks after use, and it can still detect traces to some extent even after the suspect has received detoxification IV fluids,” adding, “We have increased the sensitivity to detect even trace amounts of the substances.”
He added, “The sensitivity of initial diagnostic kits is particularly important in domestic investigative procedures,” explaining, “It is difficult to compel a blood test from the outset for individuals suspected of drug use; typically, the process involves undergoing an initial test—such as a urine test—before proceeding to additional physical examinations or detailed testing.”
Another strength is the ability to supply customized kits that can detect a wider variety of drug components compared to competitors. CEO Choi said, “We continuously update the list of detectable drugs whenever new types emerge, so we frequently communicate with relevant agencies.”
The customer base is also expanding rapidly. As the risks associated with drugs increase, demand for testing is growing not only in the public sector but also in medical institutions and the private sector. In fact, following the Cabinet’s approval last month of a partial amendment to the “Regulations on Physical Examinations for Civil Service Recruitment,” successful candidates for civil service exams are now required to undergo mandatory testing for six types of drugs—including methamphetamine, marijuana, opium, and cocaine—as part of their pre-employment physical examination.
CEO Choi said, “This year’s sales have risen to about 6 to 7 times last year’s level,” adding, “We are aiming for sales of around 2 billion won this year.” The company estimates it has sold approximately 10,000 products from April to the present and is currently expanding its supply capacity.
Meanwhile, HealthyMed is preparing to expand its business with various diagnostic kits, including sexually transmitted disease (STD) test kits. These kits allow not only medical professionals but also the general public to easily screen for major STDs—such as gonorrhea, chlamydia, vaginitis, syphilis, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)—at home within 5 to 20 minutes. The company is currently in the process of obtaining export certification from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.
