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Is D'Cold Total banned in India?

Last checked 1 October 2026

D'Cold Total. Status: On sale · pre-1988 FDC under review.
Regulatory notice

D'Cold Total is legally on sale in India as of 1 Oct 2026: its 2016 ban (S.O. 950(E)) was set aside when the Supreme Court, on 15 Dec 2017, left pre-1988 FDCs for expert review, and CDSCO still lists it as under examination.

Classification
Under examination by the regulator or an expert committee
Decided by
CDSCO / Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
Reference
S.O. 950(E), 10 Mar 2016; Supreme Court judgment of 15 Dec 2017 (Union of India v Pfizer): pre-1988 FDC under expert examination; CPM + PE label condition S.O. 4595(E), 18 Aug 2026
Evidence
Government document
Latest action
18 August 2026
Last checked
1 October 2026
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Photo: Cocillana.JPG by unknown (CC0). All photo credits.

Primary government sourceTier 1: government primary source

Union of India v Pfizer Ltd (Supreme Court of India, 15 Dec 2017)

CDSCO / Ministry of Health and Family Welfare · S.O. 950(E), 10 Mar 2016; Supreme Court judgment of 15 Dec 2017 (Union of India v Pfizer): pre-1988 FDC under expert examination; CPM + PE label condition S.O. 4595(E), 18 Aug 2026 · 15 December 2017

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Scope. A record here does not by itself mean a product or company is unsafe or banned today. Regulatory actions can apply to one batch, one formulation, one period or one state. Always check the linked government document for the current position, and tell us if something is out of date. How we label records.

Below: Blacklisted's explanationWe organise and explain what the document says. The document above is the authority.

Key facts

Governing authority
CDSCO, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
2016 notification
S.O. 950(E), 10 Mar 2016, quashed 1 Dec 2016
Supreme Court
15 Dec 2017: pre-1988 FDCs excluded from re-ban; under review
2026 condition
Contains chlorpheniramine + phenylephrine: 'not for children below four years' label under S.O. 4595(E)
Old formula
Phenylpropanolamine-based D'Cold withdrawn after the 2011 PPA ban
Marketer
Reckitt

D'Cold Total is Reckitt's four-ingredient cold tablet, paracetamol, phenylephrine, chlorpheniramine and caffeine, and, like Vicks Action 500, its name is permanently attached to the 2016 FDC ban.

The original D'Cold used phenylpropanolamine and was reformulated after the 2011 PPA ban. The reformulated D'Cold Total was then banned on 10 March 2016 under S.O. 950(E), one of 344 combinations prohibited that day. Reckitt and other manufacturers went to the Delhi High Court, which on 1 December 2016 quashed the entire wave for want of consultation with the Drugs Technical Advisory Board. On 15 December 2017 the Supreme Court sent the list back to the Board but excluded combinations licensed before 1988, and D'Cold Total was among those. It stayed off the 328-FDC re-ban of September 2018 and remains on sale while the older combinations are examined by an expert sub-committee.

Two later developments touch it. The June 2023 notification banning 14 of the older FDCs did not, to our knowledge, include this formula; that should be verified against the Gazette. And because the tablet contains chlorpheniramine with phenylephrine, S.O. 4595(E) of 18 August 2026 requires it to carry the "shall not be used in children below four years" condition.

For adults the tablet can be used as labelled. Its longer-term status depends on a review that has not concluded.

What this means for you

Adults can buy and use it

The tablet is on sale and licensed as of today.

Not for children under four

Because it contains chlorpheniramine and phenylephrine, the 2026 label condition applies.

The review is not finished

A future notification on the older FDCs could change its status; we will update this page.

This is a record of official orders, not medical advice. Do not stop a prescribed medicine without asking your doctor or pharmacist.

Batches flagged in CDSCO alerts

No NSQ batch on record. No product matching this name appears in CDSCO or state-lab NSQ alerts from Jan 2019 to September 2026. Absence from the alerts is not proof of quality, check your batch number.

Sources

Government documents

News reports

Researched and written by The Blacklisted team
We are not doctors or pharmacists. Everything on this page comes from the documents listed above, which you can open and check. Last checked 1 October 2026. How we check · Who we are · Spotted a mistake? Tell us.