All 384 slots, offered every 10 minutes from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., had been taken by Thursday, the Korea JoongAng Daily reported. "Reservations have surged, and every available time slot is now fully booked," a customer service representative of the platform said.
The platform lets Korean tourists in Japan get Mounjaro prescriptions remotely with interpretation support, and the drug can be delivered to their hotels. "Mounjaro can be prescribed in Japan even to people who are not obese," the representative said.
Broadcaster SBS put the price of a four-week supply of Mounjaro's 2.5-milligram starter dose at about 280,000 to 350,000 won (US$210 - 263) in South Korea, nearly three times the roughly 100,000 won it costs in Japan.
Under rules announced on Wednesday by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and the Korea Customs Service, travelers may carry in up to six bottles of a medicine approved by the drug regulator of the country where it was prescribed or bought. Larger quantities are allowed up to a three-month supply, which for once-weekly injections such as Mounjaro means 12 doses.
The ministry said it acted after repeated complaints that medicines legitimately prescribed at home or abroad were being held at customs. The rule covers Korean patients returning with their own medication, foreigners and international students bringing in drugs they took abroad, and medicines prescribed during overseas trips.
Bringing in obesity drugs such as Wegovy, Mounjaro and Saxenda to South Korea had been banned in principle since the ministry designated them as harmful medicines, SBS reported. Imports by international mail remain prohibited.
One Tokyo clinic advertises four weeks of the starter dose for 7,000 yen ($44), the JoongAng Daily said, while South Korean prices start at 278,000 won ($209) on a price map run by local health care platform DoctorNow.
At those prices, a three-month supply, the most a traveler may bring in, would cost 834,000 won ($626) in South Korea and about 21,000 yen ($131) in Japan, roughly 79% less.
A pharmacist displays a box of Mounjaro in Provo, Utah, on March 29, 2023. Photo by Reuters
The gap has spawned a Korean nickname for Mounjaro bought in Japan, "Sushijaro," and travel packages dubbed "Sushijaro tours" that began appearing on Wednesday.
Some agencies book appointments at reservation-only Japanese clinics or help travelers get to them.
Lee Joo-yeol, a professor of health administration at Namseoul University, told SBS that easy access through trips to Japan could lead to abuse and misuse of the drugs. The broadcaster noted that a plan to designate obesity drugs as prone to misuse has been delayed.
Mounjaro is cheaper in Japan partly because of the country's drug pricing system, the JoongAng Daily said. Japan lists Mounjaro and Zepbound, which share the active ingredient tirzepatide, under national health insurance for Type 2 diabetes and obesity respectively, so the government sets their official prices.
Patients who do not qualify for insurance pay the full cost, but those official prices still shape what clinics charge, and competition among clinics has pushed prices lower.