Why are medicines in blister packs rather than bottles?

[Dilbertian]

So many common medicines are dispensed/bought in bottles outside the UK, but are only available in blister packs in the UK. Why is this?

It's more efficient for transportation for a start.

Cost, I'd imagine.

Easier to monitor dosing - "Did I have one or two? I'd better have another..."

Easier to remember dosage you've taken too - did I take 1 or two of those? They're usually in multiples of 2 so easier to spot. Or so I've been told.

Snap @LubaLuca

Harder to overdose as it takes more deliberate thought / action

Blister packs give much more environmental control for the contents, are better at getting people to take the right dose (no just shaking a handful out) and protect the coating of the tablets when they have time release or gastric protection

It's probably easier to tell how many you've had if you get distracted/ or if you take too many.

I think the change is mostly after the law changed limiting the sale to 2 packs of 16 so probably not worth a bottle...

Quality- some medicines start to deteriorate in air, so blister packs ensure that the medicines are kept at the optimum quality.
Easier to count and to ensure that they have not been tampered with.
Quality control in regards to more difficult (though not impossible) to counterfeit.
Less likely to overdose, either accidentally or deliberately.

if you drop one on the floor from a blister pack its less dangerous for vulnerable (little humans & pets) & you only have one tablet to find (image me crawling on floor to find single blasted tablet -thank goodness we don't have them in bottles)

I also thought it was to try make overdosing harder.

I want to know why some are in sheets of 14 and some in sheets of 7. Really bugs me when I'm sorting my medication out.

Lots of different reasons OP.

Different countries have different regulations when it comes to some medicines.
Blister packs are safer and easier for dispensing and packaging.
Less time for counting in packaging and at the pharmacy side too.- which reduces errors.
Medication dependant factors- like the pill...they are one a day and prescribed in monthly packs. Aspirin can come in a bottle if needed as different ppl gave different requirements for that.

pharmanet.com.br/pdf/blister.pdf

For anyone that would like to read.

Lots of reasons BUT i read somewhere that suicides and deaths due to medication overdose are significantly lower in the UK than in places where medication is dispensed in bottles.

Not sure why but i used to live abroad & there was nothing worse than accidentally spilling a bottle of Advil (I think same as nurofen) in my handbag! I could totally understand why it would reduce overdoses too. There's way less in our blister packets of painkillers than those bottles!! I definitely remember spilling a prescription bottle on the floor as well, such a waste. Would be so dangerous too if small kids got their hands on a half open bottle

I used to hate the bottles. When ill it wasn't easy to work out the child protection top. Depending what was playing up the shakes and pills spilt. There's more space on the boxes so I can write dates to help me remember (I'm not ready to admit I need one of those plastic boxes)

I see. Much of that makes a lot of sense.

I had a little bottle of Losec (a brand name for omeprazole) bought OTC outside the UK. I decant my blister packs of omeprazole into it as I find it far more convenient than the blister packs: less bulky, less fiddly and less noisy. I'm also less likely to drop the capsule on the floor when I shake it out of the bottle than when I pop it out of the blister.

Omeprazole is a fairly benign medication.