By Chido Nwangwu @Chido247
In a significant move in the international transaction market, J2K Bio has announced that it has signed a Korean agency agreement and a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on October 28, 2026.
This latest and promising move forward involves cooperation on the distribution network of Cassava Pharma, a U.S. company specializing in the use and deployment of tapioca starch for pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.
Cassava Pharma U.S, is an affiliate of Cassava Pharma Nigeria, Ltd., founded by research scholar and pharmacist Patrick C. Okoye, PhD., following his 2024 invention of patented technology on partially pregelatinized cassava starch as an excipient for pharmaceutical use in medicines.
As an immediate implication and advantage of this agreement, J2K Bio plans to supply specialty tapioca starch-based raw material products to domestic pharmaceutical, health functional food, and cosmetic manufacturers as Cassava Pharma’s Korean agent, and also pursue cooperation utilizing the U.S. distribution network.
Lee Jae-seop, CEO of J2K Bio, stated, “With this agency agreement, we have established a bio-material portfolio that encompasses pharmaceuticals and health functional foods, extending beyond cosmetics,” adding, “We will secure new growth engines in overseas markets through cooperation with U.S. distribution networks.”
Dr. Patrick C. Okoye, CEO of Cassava Pharma, points to the advantages: “Korea is a key market with advanced pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries,” adding, “We will cooperate with J2K Bio, which possesses bio-material capabilities, to quickly secure domestic customers and create synergy between the two companies in the U.S. market as well.”
Cassava Pharma holds patented technology that redesigns tapioca starch extracted from cassava roots into pharmaceutical excipients.
Its flagship product, ‘Cassava Starch 1580GG,’ is a partially gelatinized tapioca starch that complies with the specifications for gelatinized starch in the United States Pharmacopoeia (USP-NF) and is also listed as a Type IV Drug Master File (DMF) (excipient) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Characterized by a low-moisture design for moisture-sensitive active ingredients, it is used as a binder, disintegrant, and excipient in tablets, capsules, powders, lotions, and creams. An organically certified product (5580GG) is also available.
Overall, the contract offers J2K Bio an opportunity to expand its business scope beyond cosmetic raw materials into excipients for pharmaceuticals, health functional foods and to explore its bioactive materials in the U.S. market by leveraging Cassava Pharma’s local network.
In November 2025, I interviewed Dr. Okoye regarding his groundbreaking patent.
During our //USAfricaLive.com chat, I asked him about the other values derivable from this work. He cited the “use of modified starches in nutraceutical, animal feed, cosmetic and pharmaceutical drug making…. It is increasingly common as these ingredients serve as binders, disintegrating agents and fillers for cosmetic products, drug tablets and capsules.“
He affirms that cassava flour and starches are also used globally in food such as tapioca, garri, fufu and baking and industrially in textiles and paint.
In this patent, Dr. Okoye states he not only created modified cassava starch that “performed better than other modified starches when used in medicines, but reduced the cyanide contaminant in cassava to undetectable levels.”
Significantly, global markets for a form of modified starch, known as “pre-gelatinized starch” are projected to grow more than $2billion by 2030.
Cassava is expected to become the most abundant starch in the world. Nigeria is the largest producer of cassava in the world.
Dr. Okoye’s research started while he was a pharmacy student in 1990, at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
In 1994, he moved to the U.S., where he continued his research at Long Island University in New York. He obtained his doctorate degree in Pharmaceutics from the University in 2014.
Evidently, Dr. Okoye’s invention and patent hold transformative potential
.—— Dr. Chido Nwangwu, author of the forthcoming book, MLK, Mandela & Achebe: Power, Leadership and Identity, serves as Founder & Publisher of the first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper on the internet, USAfricaonline.com, and established USAfrica in 1993 in Houston. Follow @Chido247
