Coal tar 2% in Emulsifying ointment
Requires a prescription from a doctor or prescriber
Coal tar is a brown or black liquid of extremely high viscosity.
Official documents, adverse reaction reporting, and safety monitoring
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Official medicine documents
Safety monitoring data
Yellow Card reports
The MHRA Yellow Card scheme collects reports of suspected side effects from healthcare professionals and patients. View the Drug Analysis Profile (iDAP) for real-world adverse reaction data.
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Suspected adverse reactions reported for Coal tar
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Report a side effect
Submit a Yellow Card report to the MHRA
Data from the MHRA Yellow Card scheme. A reported reaction does not necessarily mean the medicine caused it. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
EudraVigilance
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) collects suspected adverse reaction reports from across the EU/EEA through the EudraVigilance system. Search for safety data on this medicine.
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Suspected adverse reactions reported for Coal tar
About EudraVigilance
Learn about EU pharmacovigilance and safety monitoring
EudraVigilance data is published by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). A suspected adverse reaction is not necessarily caused by the medicine.
1 branded products available
Part of the Neutrogena brand family (generic: Coal tar)
MHRA licensed products
View all licensed products for Coal tar on the MHRA register
Therapeutically similar medicines
Similarity is based on WHO Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification and on a factual NHS dm+d therapeutic-grouping code prefix. Source data: NHS dm+d via TRUD (OGL v3.0), WHO ATC/DDD Index.
NHS prescribing volume and spending trends
Guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence
NICE clinical guidance(1)
Source: National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Check stock at pharmacies and supply information
Pharmacy stock checkers
Search for this medicine at major UK pharmacy chains. These links open the retailer's own website — results depend on their current online catalogue.
Supply & safety information
Official UK regulator monitoring and safety alerts
Pharmacy links redirect to the retailer's own search and do not represent real-time stock levels. Shortage and safety information sourced from MHRA drug safety updates (gov.uk, Crown Copyright under OGL v3.0).
Codes for healthcare professionals and prescribing systems
These codes are used by healthcare IT systems and prescribers to identify this medicine.
NHS UK identifiers
SNOMED CT and dm+d codes from NHS TRUD (Technology Reference data Update Distribution), licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. BNF code shown is the factual mapping value distributed by NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) in the dm+d supplementary file under OGL v3.0; it is not affiliated with, nor licensed from, the publishers of the British National Formulary.
Active and completed clinical studies from ClinicalTrials.gov
Source: ClinicalTrials.gov, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health (NIH). Data accessed via ClinicalTrials.gov API v2. Trial information is provided for research purposes and does not constitute medical advice.
Academic studies and reviews for this medicine's active substance
Showing the 50 most relevant studies.
Reviews & meta-analyses: 6 · 1933–2024
Showing the 50 most relevant studies, sorted by most relevant.
Xiaojun He, Xiaojing Li, Hao Ma, et al.
Journal of Power Sources, 2016
Zhi-Hao Ma, Xian‐Yong Wei, Guang‐Hui Liu, et al.
Fuel, 2021
Qian Liu, Dongling Wu, Tao Wang, et al.
Advanced Functional Materials, 2024
Weidan Geng, Fangwei Ma, Guang Wu, et al.
Electrochimica Acta, 2016
Chorng H. Twu
Fluid Phase Equilibria, 1984
Ellen H. van den Bogaard, Judith G.M. Bergboer, Mieke Vonk-Bergers, et al.
Journal of Clinical Investigation, 2013
- Filaggrin Proteins
- Administration, Topical
- Cell Differentiation
J. W. Cook, C. L. Hewett, I. Hieger
Journal of the Chemical Society (Resumed), 1933
Xiaojun He, Ruchun Li, Jieshan Qiu, et al.
Carbon, 2012
Stacey Culp
Carcinogenesis, 1998
- Industrial Waste
- Adenoma
- Benzo(a)pyrene
Stephen A. Wise, Bruce A. Benner, Gary D. Byrd, et al.
Analytical Chemistry, 1988
Sources: aggregated from Europe PMC (EMBL-EBI), OpenAlex, Crossref, PubMed and other open scholarly databases. Retracted articles are excluded. Study information is provided for research purposes and does not constitute medical advice.
Pharmacology and chemical data from DrugBank
Key facts
Drug status
Approved
Major interactions
None known
Half-life
Not available
Mechanism
Coal tar ointment is a keratolytic.
Food interactions
None known
Human targets
None mapped
Data: DrugBank · CC BY-NC 4.0
Pharmacokinetics at a glance
Absorption
Half-life
Protein binding
Volume of distribution
Metabolism
Elimination
Clearance
Pharmacokinetic data: DrugBank · CC BY-NC 4.0
It has been indicated for local relief of itching, dryness, and irritation caused by psoriasis, seborrhea and eczema.
How the body processes this drug — absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination
Chemical identifiers
CAS, UNII, InChI Key and database cross-references
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Chemical identifiers
CAS, UNII, InChI Key and database cross-references
Linked compound data from DrugBank Open Data (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Coal tar
DrugBank citations
If you use DrugBank data in your research, please cite the following publications:
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Structured knowledge from the free knowledge base
ATC classifications (Wikidata)
Linked open data from Wikidata (Q948232), a free and open knowledge base operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Data is available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication.