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No more full strips: India plans rule for sale of loose tablets; pharmacies raise concerns
NEW DELHI: Patients may no longer be forced to buy an entire strip of tablets or capsules when they need only one or a few of them.India’s apex drugs regulator plans to introduce a rule mandating pharmacies to dispense the exact number of tablets and capsules prescribed by allowing the sale of cut strips, according to two government officials and documents reviewed by Mint.Many drugs, including antibiotics, are typically sold in strips of 10 or 15 tablets or capsules when patients may require only five tabs. A proposal on dispensing exact prescription quantities of strip-packed medicines was discussed at a meeting chaired by the Drugs Controller General of India on 20 March.This regulatory shift is significant for India's $50 billion pharmaceutical industry and perhaps even more so for the retail pharmacy market, which was valued at $20 billion-27 billion in 2024.
The change has been driven by mounting public grievances against the common practice of pharmacies refusing to cut strips of tablets, forcing patients to buy excess medication.According to one of the documents, the regulator received a public grievance highlighting the refusal of pharmacies to dispense cut/loose strips of 10-15 tablets when only five tablets were prescribed, forcing patients to buy excess medicines and incur unnecessary costs ( ₹5-100 per strip).“The issue persists even at the major chains like Apollo and MedPlus. Further, the appellant has also mentioned that denial of sale of cut strips and insistence on the purchase of a full strip is not punishable under the existing Drugs Rules, 1945,” according to the document.
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