From the founder
What is PDRN?
Somebody asked us that in four words. It is a completely fair question, and the honest answer is duller — and more useful — than anything written on the front of a box.
We print those four letters on every page we have. It hadn't occurred to me until somebody asked that we had never once stopped to explain them.
So here is the whole answer, in four parts: what the word means, how much of it is in our bottle, what the research has actually looked at, and the part that nobody can tell you — us included.
None of what follows is a promise about your face. I'll say that here, and I'll say it again at the bottom, because it is the entire reason this page exists.
The letters are the easy part.
The evidence is the hard part.
We're printing both.
The four parts of the answer
Read the fourth one before you decide anything.
Polydeoxyribonucleotide. That is the whole word, and it is not a marketing term.
PDRN is short for polydeoxyribonucleotide. In plain English: fragments of DNA. In skincare it has traditionally come from salmon, which is where the “salmon DNA” headlines come from; fermented versions now exist too.
Ours is from salmon. So it isn't vegan. If you have a fish allergy, check with your doctor before use.
Here is the part that matters and that almost nobody mentions. PDRN is not simply the name of a substance — it describes DNA fragments within a particular size range. The word is a specification.
Our label says Sodium DNA, which is the broader name. When we use the word PDRN, we are using the word this whole category uses, and our own fragment length goes on this page once it is confirmed in writing.
There is also a version made by fermenting bacteria instead of taking it from fish. It is not the same material: shorter fragments, a different organism. It carries the same name on an ingredient list, Sodium DNA, so a label will not tell you which one you are holding. Ours is from salmon. If that ever changes, it goes on this page first.
Its amount, in the table below.
We list ours, and it is worth understanding why that matters. An ingredient list is generally ordered by concentration, but it does not have to carry a single number. So the name alone never tells you the amount, and that is why every amount in our formula is on this page.
PDRN's amount is in the table below, so you can judge it for yourself.
Ask the last brand you bought from for their number. See what comes back.
Less of it than the headlines suggest.
Research on PDRN in serums is young, and we show you what has been published so far.
Applied to skin, the published human work is three studies and 74 people in total. One of the three used peony DNA rather than salmon, so it isn't about our raw material at all. Two of the three came from the same group of authors. Every one of them was run by people who sell the ingredient or sell a product made from it. We are counting them here because we would rather you got the real number from us than found it somewhere else — not because three is a lot. Three small studies with no outside group repeating them is still a thin file, and we are not going to build a promise on it.
Applied to skin is its own question. A serum on your bathroom shelf has to get past the surface of your skin first, and how much of it does is not well studied.
And one piece of honesty that cuts in our favor, which is exactly why I want to be careful with it: the one published in July 2026 did measure the ingredient moving into skin rather than just sitting on top of it, a few percent, into the outer living layer of the skin, in a small pilot on human forearms. The authors say themselves that their method cannot fully tell their ingredient apart from the DNA your own skin already contains. One paper. One industry group. A preparation with a stated fragment size, which ours does not have. That is what the file holds, and I am not going to dress it up as anything else.
PDRN is the famous name. Niacinamide is the well-studied one, and both are in the formula.
Our niacinamide is at 2%. Niacinamide is a widely used, well-studied cosmetic ingredient. It sits in our formula alongside PDRN, six peptides and vitamin E. Every amount is in the table on this page.
PDRN, niacinamide and six peptides are all named in the formula. We publish their declared amounts and separate ingredient research from results for the finished serum. Read about PDRN.
Two more things, while you're here
One we can say plainly. One we have to qualify.
The part of this bottle that needs no asterisk.
It also has glycerin and sodium hyaluronate, two ingredients that hold water at the surface of the skin.
Our ingredient sources are published with the full formula. They are not trials of this finished serum.
The peptides — including the part that does us no favors.
Six peptides, 3% between them. Two of the six have peer-reviewed human data behind them. Four don't — what exists for those comes from the companies that sell them. We're printing that too.
Which is why we do not put them at the front of anything. They are on the list below with their amounts, like everything else, and you can weigh that up yourself.
And here is all of it
Every ingredient, each with its declared amount. Nothing left out.
Every ingredient, with its amount.
Palmitoyl Tripeptide-1 · Palmitoyl Tripeptide-8
Acetyl Heptapeptide-4 · Oligopeptide-1
Heptapeptide-6 · Acetyl Hexapeptide-8
No added fragrance or colorants. No SPF. Patch test on your inner arm for 24 hours before applying it to your face. These are formulation percentages, not independently verified pure-active measurements.
The honest part
What nobody can tell you. Us included.
ZUVIE is a cosmetic, so we describe it in cosmetic terms. Words like repairs, heals or regenerates are drug words in the US, and we leave them out.
And the one that applies to us specifically: the serum is new, so there are no reviews yet, and there is no study with our name on it. Every number on this page is a formula amount, not a result.
So, the short version of the whole page: PDRN is fragments of DNA, its amount is in the table, research on it in serums is young, and it sits alongside niacinamide, a well-studied ingredient. That is the straight answer to the question.
Read enough to decide?
The Serum. $69 at launch.
35 mL. Free US delivery. No payment to reserve. You choose whether to buy when ordering opens.
Reserve my place Explore The Serum first →Julian, ZUVIE