Pharmaceutical companies are diversifying hangover remedies to cater better to customers, especially foreigners, creating new products in different packaging, industry officials said Wednesday.

Handok succeeded in grabbing Chinese customers with its Ready Q Chew, the only jelly-type hangover remedy in the local market, where most of the products are bottled drinks.  

"Ready Q Chew spread through the word of mouth among Chinese tourists, and its sales this year leaped about 970 percent this year from last year," a company official said. The product is lighter in weight than bottled drinks, making it easier to carry around in purses, he said. It is also individually packaged, allowing users to control how much they take, the official said.

YuYu Pharma came out with a powdered remedy, while another industry rival JW Pharmaceutical created a gel packed in squeezable pouches. Both products can be consumed without water, and the former has a tangerine flavor, while the latter has a mango taste.

Industry officials, however, say it isn't yet certain whether these changes will all succeed. Customers are used to drinking out of bottles, and Handok's Ready Q Chew may be the only exception, they say.

"The market dominance by existing hangover remedies is very solid, making market entry by other new types of products very difficult," an official said. "In case of Ready Q Chew, sales come mostly from Chinese tourists rather than local customers, a point that shouldn't be missed." (Yonhap)