Is Meftal-Spas banned in India?

Meftal-Spas combines mefenamic acid, a painkiller, with dicyclomine, an antispasmodic. It is widely used for menstrual cramps and abdominal pain, which is why any story about mefenamic acid quickly becomes a story about Meftal-Spas.

There is no ban. The Ministry of Health has not issued a Section 26A notification against mefenamic acid + dicyclomine, and the combination does not appear on the CDSCO list of banned drugs or in the 2016, 2018, 2023, 2024 or 2026 FDC waves.

Two events feed the rumour. On 30 November 2023 the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission asked doctors and patients to watch for DRESS syndrome, a rare and serious skin-and-organ reaction, in people taking mefenamic acid. That was a pharmacovigilance alert, not a regulatory action. Then on 11 April 2025 the CDSCO directed state licensing authorities to stop the manufacture and sale of 35 fixed-dose combinations it treated as unapproved. That list included a three-drug product of drotaverine, mefenamic acid and paracetamol. Meftal-Spas, with two ingredients, was not on it.

The practical position for patients is that the medicine can be prescribed and dispensed as before. Use it as directed, be aware of the DRESS warning signs, and ask your pharmacist if a pack looks unfamiliar.