AMOREPACIFIC received the “King Sejong Prize,” the grand prize at the 1st quarter patent technology awards that was held in the grand auditorium of the Korean Intellectual Property Office’s (KIPO) Seoul branch on April 14. The award came from PAC20030, a pain relief substance, which development began with research regarding the composition of red pepper. The substance, capsaicin, found in red pepper combines with the vanilloid receptor, after entering the body, to create a spicy taste. However, “spicy” is not a taste, but a pain. After more than five years of research, AMOREPACIFIC was able to develop a substance that stops the activation of the vanilloid receptor. Since it was a completely different method in comparison to the existing painkillers which relied on drug ingredients, if applied, it is expected that not only pain killers, but also a new form of treatment for asthma and urinary incontinence would also be developed. Having to pioneer a new field created many hardships, since existing research in this field was scarce worldwide PAC20030 has completed all the stages of clinical testing and there are plans to begin human testing sometime this year. If all goes according to plan, it is expected that in 7 years from now, it will be able to be commercialized. Early in 2004, a multi-national corporation, headquartered in Germany, Schwarz Pharma bought the patent technology. The total technological fee was 110.75 million euro (150 billion won). An advance payment of 3.25 million euro (4.8 billion won) was received. Considering that this is a substance has not completed any clinical testing, the amount is extraordinary. With the foundation of the R&D Center in 1978, AMOREPACIFIC has been playing a leading role in cosmetics and pharmaceutical research with active innovations and development of new technologies. Today, the R&D Center is committed to improving the quality of research to enhance technological values for customer satisfaction.