Cold medication prices to increase by up to 14%

Drugmakers in Korea have decided to hike prices of cold medications due to increases in manufacturing costs.

South Korean drugmaker Dong-A Pharmaceutical has said it will hike the supply price of its flagship over-the-counter cough and cold medication Panpyrin Q by 10 percent, starting from Sept. 1.

Local drug stores are expected to increase their retail prices for the product accordingly. A box of five 20-milliliter Panapyrin Q bottles is currently sold at between 2,000 won ($1.80) and 2,200 won at local drugstores.

“The price hike decision came amid increases in manufacturing costs,” a Dong-A Pharmaceutical spokesperson explained. It would become the first price hike since 2014, the company added.

Panpyrin Q is a reinforced version of the company‘s signature Panpyrin brand first launched in the market in 1961.

Johnson & Johnson’s local sales unit in Korea has also decided to increase supply prices of its two Tylenol products. The company will increase prices for Tylenol cold-S and Children‘s Tylenol 80-milligram Chewables by 14.8 percent and 14.2 percent, respectively.

Johnson & Johnson Medical Korea has raised the price for Tylenol cold-S already once in the last year, by 10 percent.

By Shim Woo-hyun (ws@heraldcorp.com)