Is Phensedyl banned in India?

Phensedyl, Abbott's chlorpheniramine + codeine cough syrup, shares its regulatory history with Corex and has an added reputation as India's most smuggled medicine.

The combination was banned on 10 March 2016 as part of the 344-FDC wave. Manufacturers went to the Delhi High Court, which quashed the notifications on 1 December 2016. On 15 December 2017 the Supreme Court sent the list back to the Drugs Technical Advisory Board but excluded FDCs licensed before 1988, a group that included the codeine syrups. So Phensedyl stayed on sale, under Schedule H1 prescription rules, while a sub-committee examined it.

On 2 June 2023 the Health Ministry prohibited 14 of those older combinations, and press reports include chlorpheniramine maleate + codeine syrup among them. Our content plan recorded the combination as still under examination, so the 2023 entry and its S.O. number are flagged for verification before this page is final.

Phensedyl's other story is enforcement. Because codeine is an opioid, the syrup has been trafficked across the Bangladesh border for years, and state drug authorities in Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh reported seizures throughout 2026. Bottles sold informally are as likely to be counterfeit as diverted.

Phensedyl DX is a dextromethorphan-based product with a separate licence; its current composition should be checked on the label.