The Indian government has banned 156 combination drugs, including painkillers, multivitamins, antibiotics, and drugs used for fatty liver with diabetes and irritable bowel syndrome. 

These Fixed Dose Combination (FDC) drugs are considered a potential risk to humans.

The government-appointed Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) and an expert panel declared these FDCs to be "irrational," the DTAB also discovered no medicinal basis for any of the components.

Safer alternatives exist, and the FDC drugs pose risks to human health, and the Board recommended prohibiting them. 

The ban was issued under Section 26A of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act.

The FDCs were considered risky for human use, so they were prohibited from being manufactured, sold, and distributed.

Companies with supporting data can continue, while others must withdraw their products.

The list includes hair treatments, anti-parasitic drugs, skincare products, and anti-allergic medications.

This prohibition follows earlier measures, such as the outlawing of 344 combination medications in March 2016 and an additional 14 in June 2023, as part of a larger attempt to regulate the pharmaceutical industry.