Lotte Healthcare said on Thursday that it established a joint management system for Theragen Health, a company established with Theragen Bio, whereby Lotte Healthcare's Executive General Manager Woo Woong-jo and Theragen Bio CEO Hwang Tae-soon will serve as co-chairmen.

Theragen Health, a subsidiary of Theragen Etex, provides personalized genetic analysis services.  Previously, Lotte Healthcare signed a joint venture agreement with Theragen Bio in July last year.

Accordingly, Lotte Healthcare completed the payment of approximately 23.5 billion won for the acquisition of new shares of Theragen Health on Thursday. Subsequently, this follows the announcement made on Aug. 31 that Theragen Etex will issue 55,251 common shares to Lotte Healthcare.

Consequently, this gives Lotte Healthcare a 51 percent stake in Theragen Health, making it the largest shareholder.

Theragen Health will be responsible for providing genomic analysis services for Cazzle, a daily healthcare platform launched by Lotte Healthcare on Sept. 18 through the Fromgene, a direct-to-consumer genetic testing kit. Fromgene will provide direct-to-consumer (DTC) test results for 69 genes, covering aspects such as nutrients, skin, hair, eating habits, and exercise characteristics, presented in 19 different categories for easier comprehension of genetic results which can be viewed via the Cazzle app.

The company also explained that the joint management system of Theragen Healthcare will be upheld between Lotte Healthcare and Theragen Bio regardless of the size of the shareholding. This is because Theragen Bio's expertise is essential for the customized weight management service based on microbiome testing that will later be added to the Cazzle app, aside from the genetic testing service.

"It is significant that we have created a stable foundation for the genetic testing service, which is one of the pillars of our services,” said an official from Lotte Healthcare. "We will continue to cooperate with Theragen Bio to create a healthy digital healthcare market ecosystem by conducting R&D and business in strict compliance with government guidelines such as the Bioethics Act."