13 OTC drugs to be sold at retail outlets

By Yi Whan-woo

The Ministry of Health and Welfare said Thursday it has selected 13 non-prescription drugs to be sold at convenience stores and supermarkets from November.

The 13 items are five fever fighting drugs, two types of cold medicines, four digestion aid tablets, and two pain-relieving patches. They include Pancol A, Panpyrin-T Tab, Bearse Tab, Festal Gold Tab and Festal Plus Tab.

Four of the five chosen fever drugs are Tylenol products, a well-known U.S. brand.

The selection came after the ministry’s decision early this year to allow sale of over-the-counter (OTC) drugs at retail outlets other than pharmacies.

The government first planned to allow 24 types of OTC drugs, but reduced the number to 13 after a series of meetings with doctors, pharmacists, health experts, civic group members and consumers.

The ministry said it will closely monitor the sales of the OTC drugs for the first six months following the application of the new policy.

“We found that consumers have a high demand for the selected types of drugs, especially at night, weekends and holidays,” a ministry official said. “And the number of those medicines for sale at near-by stores can change depending on consumer demand.”

The ministry selected two kinds of OTC for each cold drug and pain reliever, and four for digestive tablets. “In terms of cold medicines, the two selected products were the only ones that did not have any addictive substances among 100 products,” an official said.

The ministry added it excluded anti-diarrhea, antacid and antispasmodic medicine this time despite a high demand for them from consumers.

“We still need to conduct more study to find out whether it’s safe to sell those drugs at convenience stores.”