[Newsmp] In the first quarter, it was found that sales of over-the-counter (OTC) drugs from top pharmaceutical companies increased significantly amid the continued shortage of OTC medicines such as cold medicines in the aftermath of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
According to Newsmp’s analysis of the reports of the major pharmaceutical companies, the combined sales of OTC drugs of the five companies (GC Pharma, Daewoong Pharmaceutical, Boryung Pharmaceutical, Yuhan Corporation, and Ildong Pharmaceutical) rose by 11.1% compared to the same period last year.
Of the five companies, sales of OTC drugs by the four companies except Ildong Pharmaceutical increased by more than 10%, and the average sales growth rate of them reached 14.1%.
In terms of growth rate, Boryung Pharmaceutical stood out the most. OTC medications sales in the first quarter jumped 28.2% year-on-year to KRW 9.1 billion.
Yuhan Corporation’s OTC drugs sales rose 14.9% year-on-year to KRW 42.3 billion, surpassing KRW 40 billion once again following the third quarter of last year.
Moreover, Daewoong Pharmaceutical’s OTC medications sales increased 12.5% to KRW 29.7 billion, and GC Pharma also grew 11.9% to KRW 45 billion, achieving double-digit growth.
The growth rate of Ildong Pharmaceutical (including Consumer Healthcare) was only a single-digit at 5.7%, but the size was the largest with KRW 66.3 billion.
