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 CDSCO's list of those 14 shows chlorpheniramine maleate + codeine syrup at S.O. 2398(E). The notification names the formulation, not the brand, so the link to Phensedyl rests on its composition.

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.

Two High Courts have recently differed in emphasis on codeine syrup cases. On 1 September 2026 the Allahabad High Court held that codeine syrup held for non-medicinal use counts as a narcotic under the NDPS Act. In Bharat Kumar v. State of Bihar, reported on 21 October 2026, a single judge of the Patna High Court held that cough syrups with codeine "within the permissible limits should be dealt with under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act", criticised police for "routinely registering cases" under NDPS, and granted bail. These are bail and interpretation rulings; neither changes the 2023 ban.

Phensedyl DX is a separate product. Apollo Pharmacy lists it as chlorpheniramine maleate 2 mg + dextromethorphan hydrobromide 10 mg, from Abbott India. It contains no codeine, so the 2023 order on chlorpheniramine + codeine does not cover it.