Salonpas Generic: When Will Generic Menthol and Methyl Salicylate Be Available?

Dr. Brian Staiger, PharmD, BCPS

This page is aggregated from FDA records, court filings and company announcements. Coded and designed by

Updated October 9, 2026 How we build our data

Salonpas Generic at a Glance

Four quick answers from FDA records and our estimate.

  1. When is the first generic expected? January 2030 About 3 years away Why then?
  2. Has the FDA approved a generic? Not yet None in the FDA’s records yet Why not yet?
  3. When does the brand’s protection end? January 2030 The last of 2 listed patents
  4. Can you buy a generic today? Not yet No company lists one for sale

Explains

PharmD, BCPS · Clinical pharmacist

Generic menthol and methyl salicylate is expected to be available in January 2030, about 3 years away. None is for sale yet.

Why January 2030?

It is when Salonpas’s patent 8,809,615 ends. That patent covers the product’s formulation, and once it ends, generics can go on sale as soon as the FDA approves them. We rate it probable: more likely than not, but it can still move.

Why hasn’t the FDA approved a generic yet?

That is normal before a launch. The FDA usually can’t give a generic its final approval while a patent or exclusivity still blocks it, so final approval often comes close to the day the generic can be sold. No company holds a “tentative” approval yet either (the FDA’s word for a generic that is ready but still blocked).

Will the generic cost less?

Usually, but no company is recorded as having applied to make one yet, and a single company usually brings only a modest drop. See the price pattern

What should I do now?

Keep taking Salonpas as prescribed. When a generic arrives, your pharmacy may switch you to it automatically, and it may look different. What a generic means for you

Our month is only an estimate based on available information, so we never name a day.

Salonpas by the Numbers

Reason
Patent expiresA patent that protects the brand runs out. After that, approved generics can be sold.
How sure
Probable More likely than not, but it can still move.
Price competition
None filed yet No filers on record
Brand sales
$3M a yearSmaller seller
  • FDA approved 2008 February 2008 FDA Orange Book
  • Patents listed 2 last runs to January 2030 FDA Orange Book

Salonpas’s Road to a Generic

Salonpas has had the market to itself since the FDA approved it in February 2008 (Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical Co Inc). Its 2 listed patents run to January 2030.

The first generic of Salonpas is expected in January 2030.

Why that month: patent 8,809,615, on the product’s formulation, ends then.

Brand alone on the market Since FDA approval, February 2008
Patent 9,233,184 Expires August 2027
Patent 8,809,615 Expires January 2030 The patent behind the expected month of generic availability
Brand alone on the market Patent on the formulation First generic expected Swipe the chart sideways to see every year.

Each bar runs from the brand’s approval to the day that protection ends. The green band is our projection for the first generic: a month, never a day, because legal dates move and a generic reaches shelves days to weeks after it is allowed. Sources: FDA Orange Book; the expected month from court records and company announcements.

Salonpas Patents and FDA Protections

Every patent and exclusivity the FDA Orange Book lists for Salonpas’s own applications. A protection running past the expected month does not mean the date is wrong: a settlement or a court ruling can let a generic in before a patent ends, and a patent on one formulation or use does not block every generic.

The one that matters for a generic launch: patent 8,809,615, which ends in January 2030, the month the first generic is expected.

Patents listed with the FDA (2)
PatentWhat it coversProtects untilStatus
9,233,184 The product’s formulation August 2027 Active
8,809,615 Sets the expected month of generic availability The product’s formulation January 2030 Active

Source: FDA Orange Book, application 022029. Patent numbers open the patent on Google Patents.

Who Is Lined Up to Make Generic Menthol and Methyl Salicylate

Three steps stand between a brand and a generic you can buy: a company applies to the FDA, the FDA approves it, and the company starts selling it.

1

Applied to the FDA

No company is recorded as having applied to the FDA to make a generic Salonpas yet.

2

Approved by the FDA

Not yet. The FDA has not approved a generic menthol and methyl salicylate. Final approval often comes close to the day a generic can be sold.

3

For sale in pharmacies

Not yet. No company lists a generic menthol and methyl salicylate for sale with the FDA.

Sources: how many companies have applied, from court records and company announcements; approved generics from the FDA Orange Book; tentative approvals from Drugs@FDA; what is for sale from the FDA NDC Directory. The FDA does not disclose an application before it approves it (21 CFR 314.430).

Salonpas Price: What Pharmacies Pay and What Generics Usually Do

What a Generic Could Cost

How we estimate it. The national survey of what pharmacies pay (NADAC) has no recent price for Salonpas, so we cannot show dollars. Here is the FDA’s finding of how far the price pharmacies pay usually falls as generic companies join: about 31% with one company, 44% with two, 73% with four and over 95% with six or more (the typical drop for every drug whose first generic came out from 2015 to 2017).

Median prices pharmacies paid for the generic (invoice prices), compared with the brand’s price before generic entry, from FDA’s 2019 analysis “Generic Competition and Drug Prices”. At the manufacturer’s price FDA found steeper drops (about 39%, 54%, 79% and over 95%), the figures quoted elsewhere on this tracker. A typical pattern, not a price quote for this medicine.

Salonpas Strengths and Forms

StrengthFormHow it is takenApprovedStatus
3%;10%PatchTopicalFebruary 2008Over the counter reference product

Source: FDA Orange Book, Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical Co Inc.

What a Generic Salonpas Means for You

Nothing changes until it is in pharmacies

Until a generic is actually for sale, keep filling Salonpas as usual. When one arrives, there is nothing you need to sign up for.

Your pharmacy may switch you automatically

Every state lets pharmacists fill a brand-name prescription with an FDA-approved generic rated as equivalent to it, and about 19 states require them to, unless your prescriber writes “dispense as written” or “brand medically necessary” on the prescription. Some states ask the pharmacist to tell you, or to get your OK first. A study of every state’s law has the details.

It will probably look different

US trademark law does not let a generic look exactly like the brand, so the color, shape or markings usually change. The active ingredient, strength and form are the same. An “authorized generic,” made by or for the brand’s own company, can look identical. The FDA explains.

Your insurance may change too

Once a lower-cost version is available, many insurance plans charge more for the brand, or stop covering it. Your plan’s drug list (formulary) says how.

Until a generic is on US pharmacy shelves, be careful with websites that offer “generic Salonpas”. The FDA warns that unlicensed online pharmacies sell counterfeit and unapproved medicines; its BeSafeRx page shows how to check a pharmacy.

Ask a pharmacist about Salonpas

Questions people ask about Salonpas

Is there a generic for Salonpas right now?

No. As of October 9, 2026 no generic menthol and methyl salicylate is listed for sale in the FDA NDC Directory.

When will Salonpas go generic?

January 2030 is the expected month, and that is probable but not certain. It is when Salonpas’s patent 8,809,615 ends. That patent covers the product’s formulation, and once it ends, generics can go on sale as soon as the FDA approves them.

Will generic menthol and methyl salicylate be the same as Salonpas?

Yes in the ways that matter: the same active ingredient, strength and form, with proof that it reaches your blood the same way. Inactive ingredients can differ, which is why some people notice a different look or taste.

How much will the generic cost?

Nobody can say for sure before launch. No company is recorded as having applied to the FDA to make one yet, and a single company usually brings only a modest drop.

Has the FDA approved a generic Salonpas?

Not yet. The FDA Orange Book lists no approved generic version of Salonpas.

When does the Salonpas patent expire?

The FDA Orange Book lists 2 patents for Salonpas; the last runs to January 2030. The one behind the expected month is patent 8,809,615, which ends in January 2030. A patent date is not the launch date: settlements and court rulings often bring a generic earlier, and FDA approval or a company’s own plans can make it later. The expected month on this page (January 2030) weighs all of that.

Changes to This Projection

  • First generic expected January 2030 on this month’s schedule. A line is added here whenever a monthly update moves the month, the reason or how sure it is.

Every change to the expected month is logged here with the month we saw it.

Also Going Generic

All upcoming generics

About Salonpas

  • Generic name menthol and methyl salicylate
  • How it is taken On the skin
  • Company Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical Co Inc
  • Hard to copy Inhalers, injectables, patches and other hard-to-copy products. Fewer companies attempt them and dates slip more often.
  • More drugs Brand-name drugs starting with S
  • Have a question? A pharmacist answers, free. Ask about Salonpas

Sources. The expected month: FDA Paragraph IV Patent Certifications list, federal court records, company announcements and securities filings (settlement dates, launch plans, sales). The record on this page: FDA Orange Book, Drugs@FDA (tentative approvals), FDA NDC Directory, FDA, Generic Competition and Drug Prices (2019). Updated October 9, 2026. Information, not medical advice.