Market Research Report  |  RisetLokal Research Desk

Analgesics Industry in Indonesia

Market Size, Segments, Brands, Channels, Regulation & Competitive Review of Over-the-Counter Pain Relief (2020–2025)

How Indonesia’s over-the-counter pain relief market works today: what people buy for headaches, fever and sore muscles, which brands own the shelf, and where the pills, powders and plasters are sold.

01 · Executive Summary

A paracetamol market with a long tail of challengers

Indonesians spent about IDR 9.7 trillion (around US$590 million) on over-the-counter pain relief in 2025. That covers headache tablets, fever syrups for children, and the plasters, balms and rubs used for sore backs and tired legs. Spending has grown by roughly 6% a year since 2020, faster than inflation but without any big jumps.

The market rests on a habit. About eight in ten Indonesians who had a health complaint in the past month treated it themselves, according to BPS. For a headache or a fever, that usually means a cheap tablet bought at a pharmacy, a minimarket or the corner warung.

Four facts frame the market today:

• Paracetamol rules. Adult paracetamol and paracetamol-based combinations, often with caffeine, make up about two-thirds of value and delivered about 80% of growth since 2020.
• Topicals are losing ground. Plasters, balms and rubs fell from 27% to about 22% of value. They still grow, but only about 2% a year.
• Local brands lead. Paramex (Konimex) and Bodrex (Tempo Scan) are the two largest brands, ahead of Haleon’s Panadol and Japan’s Salonpas.
• The tail is rising. In 2025 every top-ten company lost share, and small brands and private labels jumped to about a quarter of value as shoppers looked for cheaper options.

02 · Scope & Method

What we measured

This report covers over-the-counter (OTC) analgesics sold through retail channels in Indonesia. Systemic analgesics are tablets, caplets, powders and syrups taken by mouth: paracetamol (acetaminophen), ibuprofen, aspirin and combination products, for adults and children. Topical analgesics are plasters, patches, balms, gels, creams and roll-ons applied to the skin. Prescription painkillers, hospital sales and traditional herbal medicine (jamu) sold as a separate category are outside the market size.

Figures marked ¹ are RisetLokal estimates. Our base series comes from syndicated retail tracking. We rounded it and cross-checked it against BPS self-medication and population data, Ministry of Health pharmacy counts, BPS inflation and the reported sales of listed producer PT Tempo Scan Pacific Tbk. 2025 figures are based on part-year data. Dollar values use Bank Indonesia average annual exchange rates.

03 · Market Size

IDR 9.7 trillion and about IDR 34,000 per person

Year	Retail value (IDR bn)1	Growth, current	US$ m1
2020	7,330	–	503
2021	7,845	+7.0%	548
2022	8,085	+3.1%	545
2023	8,565	+5.9%	562
2024	9,070	+5.9%	572
2025E	9,670	+6.6%	588

Three things stand out. First, demand barely moves with the economy. Pain relief is cheap, bought in small amounts and hard to postpone. Second, 2022 was the weak year. Growth slowed to about 3% as topical sales fell 4%, while the government halted syrup medicine sales during the acute kidney injury crisis among children (see Section 08). Third, in real terms the market grew about 10% between 2020 and 2024, after allowing for roughly 12% cumulative inflation over those years.

For a population of about 284 million, IDR 9.7 trillion works out to roughly IDR 34,000 (about US$2) per person per year. That is the price of a few strips of tablets and a pack of plasters.

04 · Segmentation

Pills and powders up, plasters and balms down

Segment	2020 (IDR bn)1	2025E (IDR bn)1	CAGR 2020–25	Share 2025E
Adult paracetamol	2,420	3,490	7.6%	36%
Adult combination products	2,150	2,965	6.6%	31%
Topical analgesics	1,980	2,150	1.7%	22%
Paediatric paracetamol	390	600	9.1%	6%
Paediatric ibuprofen	380	450	3.5%	5%
Aspirin (adult and child)	11	10	-2.5%	<0.2%

Adult paracetamol is the single largest segment. Panadol, Sanmol and many generics compete here, and the product is cheap enough to sell by the strip. Combination products pair paracetamol with caffeine or other actives and promise faster, stronger relief for headaches and flu-like aches. Paramex, Bodrex, Saridon and Oskadon all sit here.

Children’s products are about 11% of value. Paediatric paracetamol grew fastest of all segments, at about 9% a year. Children’s ibuprofen grew more slowly, even though parents use it for higher fevers. Aspirin has almost disappeared from OTC pain relief.

Topicals, such as Salonpas and Koyo Cabe patches, Counterpain and Geliga balms, and Neo Rheumacyl, are still a big business at over IDR 2 trillion. But they have grown slowly. The growth that does exist is moving to roll-ons and sticks: Salonpas and Geliga launched roll-on versions, and local brands such as FreshCare and Safe Care built followings with them.

05 · Demand Patterns

Headaches, fever and the twice-yearly pancaroba

Driver	What it means for analgesics
Self-medication habit	About 79.7% of people with a health complaint treated themselves in 2023, down from 84% in 2021–22 (BPS)
Pancaroba (season change)	March–April and September–October bring fevers, colds and aches; sales of paracetamol rise
Work and city stress	Tension headaches and long commutes support adult combination products
Sport and manual work	Muscle and joint pain keep plasters and rubs in daily use
Ageing population	More joint and back pain; more interest in topicals for long-term use
Price sensitivity	Smaller packs, sachets and private labels gained in 2025

Two cultural points matter for anyone entering the market. Many Indonesians see pain as a sign of the body being out of balance (masuk angin, or “wind entering the body”, is the everyday version). They want quick, temporary relief rather than a full cure, and they are comfortable mixing modern tablets with herbal oils and balms. Herbal rubs remain strong in rural areas. Brands that combine a familiar herbal story with modern pharmacology have an easier time.

06 · Distribution Channels

From pharmacy counter to warung shelf

Channel	Role in analgesics
Pharmacies and health & beauty stores	Largest channel by value; about 32,000 pharmacies (Ministry of Health, 2023) plus chains such as Kimia Farma, Guardian and Watsons
Licensed drugstores (toko obat)	About 8,600 outlets selling OTC medicines without a pharmacist
Minimarkets and supermarkets	Indomaret and Alfamart sell OTC tablets and plasters near the till
Warung and small grocers	Single strips and sachets of paracetamol and combination products sold everywhere
E-commerce and health apps	Fastest-growing; Shopee, Tokopedia and Halodoc tie purchases to teleconsultation and repeat buying

Pharmacies remain the main channel because shoppers trust the advice and the stock. Indonesia had about 130,600 pharmacists in 2023, around one for every 2,100 people. But much OTC pain relief is bought where people already shop. A strip of Paramex or Bodrex next to the cigarettes in a warung is as much a part of this market as a pharmacy shelf. Online, health platforms such as Halodoc, and payment through e-wallets (see our digital payments report), make repeat orders easy.

07 · Competitive Landscape

Indonesian brand owners lead, multinationals follow

The market is fragmented. Tempo Scan Pacific, a listed Indonesian group, is the leader with about 19% of value, through Bodrex for headaches and Neo Rheumacyl for muscle pain. Konimex, a private company based in Central Java, is second with Paramex and Migran. Then comes a cluster of multinationals and local groups at 4–9% each.

The leader’s own numbers show the pressure. Tempo Scan reported net sales of IDR 6.59 trillion for the first half of 2025, about 3% lower than a year earlier, and operating profit fell by about a quarter. The group sells far more than painkillers, but the figures fit a year in which its analgesic share slipped from about 20% to 19% while cheaper brands gained.

Company	Origin	Key analgesic brands	Main segment
Tempo Scan Pacific	Indonesia (listed: TSPC)	Bodrex, Bodrex Extra, Neo Rheumacyl, Oskadon*	Adult combinations, topical
Konimex	Indonesia	Paramex, Migran	Adult combinations
Haleon (GSK Consumer)	UK	Panadol, Voltaren	Adult paracetamol, topical
Bintang Toedjoe (Kalbe)	Indonesia	Puyer No. 16	Adult powder
Hisamitsu	Japan	Salonpas	Topical patches
Taisho	Japan	Counterpain	Topical
Pharos	Indonesia	Proris	Children’s ibuprofen
Others	Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines	Koyo Cabe, Balpirik, Geliga, Sanmol, Saridon, Kaki Tiga, Biogesic	Mixed

*Oskadon is a Tempo Scan brand sold through PT Supra Ferbindo Farma.

In 2025 every top-ten company lost share, and small brands and private labels rose from about 18% to about 25%. Part of that shift reflects tighter household budgets. Part looks like a change in how brands are tracked: Tempra, a children’s paracetamol syrup that held 2.4% in 2024, no longer appears separately. Either way, the leaders now face real price competition from smaller labels.

08 · Regulatory Environment

BPOM registration, OTC logos and the 2022 syrup crisis

Every analgesic sold in Indonesia needs a distribution permit from BPOM, the food and drug authority. Packs carry a coloured circle that shows how they can be sold. A green circle (obat bebas) means the product can be sold freely, as most paracetamol products are. A blue circle (obat bebas terbatas) means limited OTC with warnings, as for many combination products. Stronger painkillers are prescription-only.

The defining event of recent years was the 2022 acute kidney injury crisis. Syrups contaminated with ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol were linked to kidney failure in young children. By 21 October 2022 the Health Ministry had counted 241 cases and 133 deaths. Pharmacies were told to stop selling all OTC syrups while BPOM tested products, and BPOM pursued criminal cases against manufacturers that had used contaminated solvents. The episode tightened checks on raw materials and pushed parents towards trusted brands, tablets and pharmacy purchases.

Counterfeits remain a concern. BPOM’s 2D barcode rules let shoppers and retailers scan a pack to check its registration, and some brands add their own verification codes. Halal certification under Law 33/2014 is being phased in for medicines, with deadlines that stretch into the 2030s for some product types. Kratom, a Kalimantan plant with painkilling alkaloids, is under study by BRIN, the national research agency, but is not registered as an OTC medicine.

09 · Implications

What this means if you are looking at Indonesia

• Brand owners: reach decides success. A brand must be in pharmacies, minimarkets and warung at the same time, often in single strips. The opening for newcomers is in convenient topical formats such as roll-ons, children’s products and value packs.
• Contract manufacturers and packaging suppliers: strip packs, sachets and patches dominate. After 2022, buyers pay more attention to excipient and solvent quality, and traceable, tamper-evident packaging is gaining value.
• Investors: this is a steady, low-volatility consumer health category led by local companies. Growth comes from trading up within paracetamol and from distribution, not from a step change in demand.

Executive Summary Slides

Analgesics Industry in Indonesia: Executive Summary