Advil, the world’s best-selling pain reliever, is not performing well in Korea.

According to data from IQVIA, a pharmaceutical market researcher, the sales of Daewoong Pharmaceutical’s painkiller EZN6 overwhelmed those of Pfizer’s Advil in 2017. Advil sold the most in the world among pain relievers as of 2015.

EZN6 Any Soft Cap. (ibuprofen) sold 1.93 billion won ($1.8 million) last year, up 4.9 percent from 1.84 billion won in 2016.

EZN6 Pro Soft Cap. (dexibuprofen) sold 1.4 billion won last year, increasing 2.7 percent from the 2016 sales of 1.37 billion won. EZN6 Eve (ibuprofen, pamabrom), targeting women, sold 1.38 billion won, jumping 34.8 percent from 1.2 billion won a year earlier.

With EZN6 product lines showing balanced sales growth, Daewoong raised more than 3 billion won in revenue by selling only painkillers.

In contrast, Pfizer’s Advil Liqui-Gels Soft Cap. (ibuprofen) failed to reach 1 billion won in sales. Advil Liqui-Gels sold only 903 million won last year, although the revenue grew 30.8 percent compared to 690 million won in the previous year.

Obtaining approval in 2001, Advil Tab. (ibuprofen) sold 45 million won in 2017, plunging 59.6 percent from the 2016 sales of 111 million won. Pfizer Korea spent nearly 1 billion won on Advil advertisement in 2015.

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