[Asia Economy Reporter Chunhee Lee] #Recently, pharmacies have been selling 'Tylenol' in unfamiliar packaging. Although the red packaging is the same, it is labeled in English as 'TYLENOL' instead of Korean, and the ingredient name is not the commonly known 'Acetaminophen' but the overseas term 'Paracetamol.' The reason this packaging is distributed domestically is that the medicine sold in Australia was imported as an 'emergency import.'
According to the pharmaceutical industry on the 5th, the domestic distribution of pharmacy-use Tylenol tablets 500 mg, imported through emergency import, has recently begun. However, as the shortage situation has already eased and there are plenty of alternative drugs with the same ingredients domestically, there are criticisms about why overseas medicines were urgently imported.
Last April, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety decided to urgently import Tylenol suspensions and tablets distributed in Australia. The import of two types was decided: pharmacy-use children's Tylenol suspension 50 mg/mL and pharmacy-use Tylenol tablets 500 mg. This was introduced as a solution after a shortage occurred when Tylenol was directly mentioned as a recommended analgesic for adverse reactions following the increase in COVID-19 vaccinations last year, and again earlier this year when the Omicron variant rapidly spread causing a cold medicine shortage.
The children's suspension was rapidly imported starting in May, and the general tablets have recently begun to be imported. However, the field reports that the already imported children's suspension had no supply effect. Pharmacist A, who runs a private pharmacy, said, "The suspension is only the same in name as the suspension previously sold domestically, but it is actually a different product," adding, "Because the active ingredient concentration is different, it was difficult to provide medication guidance, so most pharmacists around avoided selling it."
Another pharmacist B said, "It is true that many customers look for Tylenol, but it is bitter that even the government seems to think only Tylenol is an acetaminophen drug," adding, "Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, domestic pharmaceutical companies' products with the same ingredient and formulation were sufficiently supplied, and now Tylenol is not that difficult to supply either, so I don't know for whom this emergency import was really made."
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