loose tablets

[JM342]

You can check whether loose tabletws are licensed by checking the SmPC.

On the whole - it is not necessarily cheaper to pack in pots - blistering on the scale of the big generic companies is incredibly cheap due to the economies of scale and automation. The demand for pots of say 500 or 1000 tabs would be relatively low it is difficult to realise the same economies of scale.

[orangiey]

The whole point of spending good money to put the meds in blisters is to protect the drug UNTIL it is taken and to make it readily identifiable. It should stay in the blister until immediately before the patient pops it into their mouth.
The problem is the repacking of meds into dosette boxes for practically every patient. Very few really need it.

I agree few really need it and we have had some patients who have reverted to 'normal' boxes and bottles...what's that all about then? Needy, not!

[bobbin]

You can check whether loose tablets are licensed by checking the SmPC.

They may be licensed but they are very rarely marketed. Manufacturers usually request licenses for a large range of different pack sizes in case they decide to market them in future.

For example, Actavis have a license to sell simvastatin in packs of 10, 20, 28, 30, 50, 60, 98 and 100 tablets, but they only market the 28 pack in the UK.

[bobbin]

The whole point of spending good money to put the meds in blisters is to protect the drug UNTIL it is taken and to make it readily identifiable. It should stay in the blister until immediately before the patient pops it into their mouth.
The problem is the repacking of meds into dosette boxes for practically every patient. Very few really need it.

I think they help some people, but for others it would be better to simplify their regimen and stop unnecessary tablets. The problem is, no one seems to take responsibility for doing this.

Why does an elderly patient with advanced cancer still need simvastatin? Why does a patient who has stopped drinking heavily still need thiamine and vitamin B co tabs years down the line? Why is mebeverine being taken every day for 5 years? When was the last time they stopped Mrs. Smith's omeprazole to find out whether she still gets heartburn? What are they still doing on prochlorperazine? No one checks, we just pop a mass of tablets into a dosette every week and hope for the best. If all the nonsense was stopped, a dosette might not be needed. I bet people don't take 10 meds for no reason in countries where they pay for their prescriptions. We do waste a lot of time.