PharmBio Korea’s tablet-type bowel preparation Orafang / Photo = PharmBio Korea
PharmBio Korea has received approval for Ora-S, a tablet-type bowel preparation, adding a third product to its lineup as it responds directly to the “mini-tablet” competition sparked by Taejoon Pharm.
Generics of Orafang have also entered the market aggressively, but they have yet to make a meaningful impact.
PharmBio Korea obtained approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) on April 27 for Ora-S tablets. Although the exact tablet size has not been disclosed, the approved specifications indicate that Ora-S is a mini-tablet weighing 150 mg per tablet, with 160 tablets taken per dose.
Ora-S is a round, film-coated tablet that offers two dosing options: split-dose administration and same-day administration. It also contains 320 mg of simethicone, which helps reduce bubbles during examinations. In effect, it is a smaller version of Orafang and Orafang Easy, with smaller tablets but a higher pill count.
What stands out is that PharmBio Korea, which already markets Orafang and Orafang Easy, has now introduced an ultra-small tablet by reducing the weight per tablet to about one-tenth of the original Orafang tablet. Orafang, approved in 2019, weighs 1,500 mg per tablet and requires 14 tablets per dose. Orafang Easy, approved in March 2025, weighs 437.5 mg per tablet and requires 48 tablets per dose. Ora-S weighs 150 mg per tablet and requires 160 tablets per dose. Over seven years, the tablet weight has fallen to one-tenth, while the number of tablets per dose has increased more than 11-fold.
PharmBio Korea’s move is drawing attention as a direct response to Taejoon Pharm’s strategy of offering products that require patients to take a larger number of smaller tablets. Taejoon Pharm received approval in April 2023 for Suprep Mini, which weighs 146.3 mg per tablet and requires 160 tablets per dose. In November 2024, it added Suprep Mini-S, which removed magnesium and added sodium chloride and potassium chloride. Suprep Mini-S weighs 156.2 mg per tablet and requires 150 tablets per dose. The lineup also strengthened dosing flexibility before examinations by offering both split dosing and same-day split dosing.
PharmBio Korea initially responded with Orafang Easy, but the product did not go as far as a mini-tablet. Orafang Easy is a mid-sized round tablet measuring 7.6 mm in diameter and 4.9 mm in thickness, with a focus on improving swallowability for older patients. Ora-S is different. Its specifications are very similar to Suprep Mini, with the main points of differentiation limited to packaging unit and a difference of about 10 tablets per dose.
By contrast, JW Pharmaceutical’s J-cle tablets and Daewoong Pharmaceutical’s Cleancol tablets, which entered the market in May last year, follow a different approach. Designed to avoid Orafang’s patents, they largely follow Orafang’s tablet specifications. However, they added sodium picosulfate hydrate and reduced total sulfate content to 16 g, about half of Orafang’s 31.5 g, as a point of differentiation.
With generics entering the market, PharmBio Korea, the dominant player, and Taejoon Pharm, its most direct challenger, are now facing off in the mini-tablet bowel preparation market.
According to IQVIA, Korea’s tablet-type bowel preparation market reached $7.89 million in 2025. Orafang recorded more than $6.43 million in distribution value, accounting for 81.6% of the market. Taejoon Pharm’s Suprep Mini followed with about $1 million, or 12.2%, while Suprep Mini-S reached around $342,000, or 4.6%. JW Pharmaceutical and Daewoong Pharmaceutical each barely exceeded $70,000.
PharmBio Korea’s decision to introduce a “miniature” version of Orafang reflects these market trends. Orafang’s distribution value rose from just over $4.1 million in 2021 to around $6.63 million in 2023, but growth has since slowed, reaching $6.22 million in 2024 and $6.43 million in 2025.
Taejoon Pharm has been the company slowing Orafang’s advance. Suprep Mini recorded just under $410,000 in distribution value when it was launched in 2023, before rising to about $1.1 million in 2024 and $1 million in 2025. Together with Suprep Mini-S, which recorded $342,000, Taejoon Pharm now accounts for roughly $1.3 million in the market.
Although Orafang Easy has continued to generate sales, Taejoon Pharm’s growth appears to have made a mini-tablet product necessary for PharmBio Korea as well.
As PharmBio Korea, the company that created Korea’s tablet-type bowel preparation market, moves to defend its position with a mini-tablet product, attention is now turning to how competition between the two companies will unfold.
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