[Newsmp] The price index of cold medicines jumped more than 10% last year. Anti-inflammatory drugs also rose by over 7%.
According to Statistics Korea, the price index for cold medicines stood at 113.50 in December, up 13.2% from a year earlier (based on 100 in 2020).
Cold medicine’s price index was 100.25 in Dec. 2021, the third lowest among 12 detailed indicators of pharmaceutical products, but as the demand surged due to the spread of COVID-19 and the shift to at-home treatment, it became the highest among them in December.
This soared to 110.26 in November from 105.93 in October as the government officially raised the upper limit of health benefits to encourage the production of a stable supply of cold medicines.
Painkillers also saw their prices soar due to a significant increase in demand due to COVID-19 vaccinations, reaching 110.70 in December from 108.78 in Dec. 2021 when painkillers were the only pharmaceutical products to exceed 105, but the increase remained at 1.8% compared to the same period last year.
In contrast, the price index of anti-inflammatory drugs rose 7.1% from 102.28 in Dec. 2021 to 109.50 in Dec. 2022, the second-highest increase after cold medicines.
At the same time, oriental medicines ramped up 4.1%, digestants and antitussives 3.2% and 3.0%, vitamin products 1.3%, gastrointestinal medicines 1.2%, skin disease medications 0.7% and oral disinfectants 0.5%.
However, hospital medications and prescription drugs, which were below 100 in Dec. 2021, also fell 1.7% and 1.2% last year.
As of Dec. 2022, the price index of cold medicines was 113.50, painkillers 110.79, anti-inflammatory drugs 109.50, oriental medicines 106.45, antitussives 105.83, digestants 104.72, vitamin products 103.85, gastrointestinal medicines 103.31, oral disinfectants 101.98 and skin disease medications 101.54, exceeding 100, and prescription drugs declined to 97.55 and hospital medications to 96.99.
Accordingly, the pharmaceuticals price index increased 0.7% from 100.24 in Dec. 2021 to 100.97 in December last year.
