Alvedon, Ipren and Friends: Swedish Medicine Names Decoded

Your usual medicine almost certainly exists in Sweden, just not under the name on your box. Here is the method that finds it every time, the substance table, and the pack-size rule that explains why your usual box may be prescription-only here.

When you need this

• You have run out of something you take at home, or never packed it
• You know only the brand name, and no Swedish shelf carries it
• You are from the US or Canada and cannot find “acetaminophen” anywhere
• You want to check what a Swedish box contains before taking it
• You are about to take two Swedish painkillers and are not sure whether they are the same thing

Ask for the substance, not the brand

Brand names are national. Active-substance names are international: every medicine has an International Nonproprietary Name (INN), and cross-border prescriptions in the EU are written in that common name precisely because brands differ between countries. Do the same at the counter.

The one big exception is a North American one. What the United States calls acetaminophen, most of the world — Sweden included — calls paracetamol. The US Food and Drug Administration says so itself. You will not find the word acetaminophen on a Swedish box.

The Swedish brands then add a layer of their own. Alvedon and Panodil are paracetamol. Ipren is ibuprofen. Treo is acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) plus caffeine. Swedish boxes print the active substance, the aktiv substans, under the brand name, so reading one line of the pack tells you what you are holding.

This matters for more than convenience. 1177, Sweden’s official health guide, warns against taking two products with the same active substance. Alvedon in the evening and Panodil in the morning is the same drug twice, and a paracetamol overdose damages the liver.

The Swedish spelling rule

Sweden uses the international name with Swedish spelling, and for most substances that means dropping the final -e. Loratadine becomes loratadin, cetirizine cetirizin, omeprazole omeprazol, loperamide loperamid. Aspirin’s chemical name becomes acetylsalicylsyra, and hydrocortisone hydrokortison.

That one rule is what makes a search box work. Type “cetirizine” into a Swedish pharmacy website and you may get nothing useful; type cetirizin and you get every product. FASS, the Swedish medicines reference, shows the English form beside each Swedish substance name, marked (engelska), which is a quick way to confirm you have the right one.

The substance table

The brands in the third column show what a Swedish box may say. They are examples to help you recognise a pack, not recommendations — a box labelled with the substance name plus a manufacturer contains the same medicine, and a pharmacy may legally hand you a different brand with the same substance, strength and form (utbyte, generic substitution).

Two look-alikes deserve a warning: loratadin and desloratadin are different substances with different strengths, 10 mg and 5 mg. Do not substitute one for the other by guesswork.

Pack size decides prescription status

This is the part no English guide explains. In Sweden, prescription status is recorded per product and per pack, not per substance. The FASS pack list for a single omeprazole 20 mg product shows packs of 7, 14 and 28 marked Receptfri (non-prescription) and packs of 56, 98 and 100 marked Receptbelagd (prescription-only). Loperamide 2 mg is non-prescription in a 16-tablet pack and prescription-only at 40 or 100. Hydrocortisone 1% cream is non-prescription in 20 g and 50 g tubes, not in 100 g.

So “Is it prescription-only in Sweden?” often has the answer “your pack is; a smaller one is not”. Ask for the smaller pack.

Strength works the same way for painkillers. Paracetamol 500 mg is non-prescription; 1 g tablets are not. Ibuprofen 200 and 400 mg are non-prescription; 600 mg is not.

A few non-prescription medicines also carry use limits printed in the leaflet. Non-prescription omeprazole is a 14-day reflux treatment for adults, and the leaflet says to see a doctor if you are not better, or are worse, after 14 days. Loperamide is not for children under 12. Loratadine tablets are not for children of 30 kg or under.

Prescription-only here, sold freely at home

Some things visitors are used to buying freely do not exist on a Swedish shelf:

• Codeine painkillers. Paracetamol-codeine products and acetylsalicylic acid with codeine are prescription-only and classified as narcotics for medical use. If you already own some, bringing it in is a separate question: see bringing medicines into Sweden.
• Oral pseudoephedrine decongestants. No medicine containing pseudoephedrine is marketed in Sweden. The Swedish answer to a blocked nose is a nässpray, such as xylometazoline.
• Antibiotics, which need a prescription in Sweden.
• High-strength painkillers: paracetamol 1 g and ibuprofen 600 mg.

Prescription status is decided nationally, so never assume your home rules apply in either direction — check the Swedish pack list.

From 1 January 2027 Sweden adds a third category: non-prescription medicines sold only at a pharmacy after mandatory pharmacist counselling. Läkemedelsverket, the Swedish Medical Products Agency, will decide product by product which ones enter it. As of September 2026 none of the substances in the table above has been named.

Knowing the name is half the job. Where you can buy it — supermarket, petrol station or pharmacy, and why paracetamol tablets are pharmacy-only while effervescent paracetamol is not — is covered in our guide to buying painkillers and OTC medicine in Sweden.

Using FASS to check a Swedish box

fass.se is free, needs no login, and carries the package leaflet (bipacksedel) of every medicine sold in Sweden. It is almost entirely in Swedish, but you only need three things from it:

1. Search the substance in Swedish spelling. The substance page lists every product containing it, with strengths and forms.
2. Open a product and find the Förpackningar (packs) tab. Each pack is marked Receptfri or Receptbelagd.
3. Ignore packs marked Tillhandahålls ej — listed, but not currently supplied. Try another manufacturer’s product with the same substance.

Do not machine-translate dosing text and act on it. For anything beyond “which substance is this”, ask a pharmacist — advice is free and a legal duty at every Swedish pharmacy, as explained in how Swedish pharmacies work — or call Läkemedelsupplysningen, Läkemedelsverket’s free medicines phone line. Shop staff outside a pharmacy are not allowed to advise you which product to choose.

Practical information

FAQ

What is acetaminophen called in Sweden?

Paracetamol. The US and Canadian name acetaminophen is not used on Swedish packs. The boxes you will see most are Alvedon and Panodil, plus generics labelled Paracetamol; all contain the same substance. The 500 mg strength is non-prescription, while 1 g tablets need a prescription. Paracetamol tablets are sold only at pharmacies.

Is Alvedon the same as Panodil?

Yes, in the sense that matters for safety: both are paracetamol. They differ in manufacturer, packaging and sometimes tablet form, not in active substance. 1177 warns against taking two products with the same active substance, so never take one after the other as if they were different painkillers. Ipren is a different substance, ibuprofen.

What is Ipren?

Ipren is a Swedish brand of ibuprofen, the same substance you know under other brand names at home. Tablets of 200 mg and 400 mg are non-prescription; 600 mg needs a prescription. Boxes labelled simply Ibuprofen with a manufacturer’s name contain the same substance and are interchangeable at the same strength.

Can I buy loratadine or cetirizine without a prescription in Sweden?

Yes. 1177 lists desloratadine, loratadine and cetirizine as non-prescription antihistamine tablets. Loratadine 10 mg is non-prescription in ordinary packs, but the 100-tablet pack needs a prescription. Search the Swedish spellings loratadin, cetirizin and desloratadin on fass.se to see the products sold here.

Is codeine over the counter in Sweden?

No. Paracetamol-codeine products and acetylsalicylic acid with codeine are prescription-only in Sweden and classified as narcotics for medical use. No pharmacy will sell them without a prescription valid here. Medicine you already own and bring with you is governed by separate personal-import rules, which our guide to bringing medicines to Sweden covers.

Is FASS available in English?

Not in any useful way. fass.se is the Swedish medicines reference and carries the package leaflet of every medicine sold in Sweden, but the text is in Swedish; substance pages show only the English substance name. Substance, strength and form are readable anyway. For questions in English, ask a pharmacist or call Läkemedelsupplysningen.

Why is my usual pack prescription-only in Sweden?

Because prescription status is decided per product and per pack, not per substance. Omeprazole 20 mg is non-prescription in packs up to 28 capsules but prescription-only at 56 or more; hydrocortisone 1% cream is non-prescription in 20 g and 50 g tubes but not 100 g. Buy the smaller pack, or see a prescriber.

Related guides

• Buying painkillers and OTC medicine in Sweden — where you can buy each of these, tonight
• How Swedish pharmacies work — free pharmacist advice and foreign prescriptions
• Getting a prescription filled as a visitor — when your medicine is prescription-only here
• Bringing medicines into Sweden — your own supply, including codeine
• 1177: Sweden’s medical advice line — when you need advice rather than a box

Facts verified 2026-09-24. Sources: FASS product records, Läkemedelsverket, E-hälsomyndigheten, 1177, TLV, the European Commission and the US FDA — full register in this topic’s source file. Found something outdated? Tell us and we’ll fix it.