Pregabalin moved to Schedule H1; ₹1,800 cr segment faces tighter chemist compliance

Health Ministry has reclassified pregabalin under Schedule H1, mandating prescription-only sale, separate retailer registers and packaging warnings. Sun Pharma, Torrent, Intas and Micro Labs lead the ₹1,800 crore CNS segment now exposed to stricter chemist-counter controls and audit risk.

— Filed Fri, 22 May, 2026, 22:19 IST · Source The Hindu BusinessLine · Updated

Health Ministry has moved pregabalin under Schedule H1, mandating prescription-only sale and separate retailer registers. The ₹1,800 crore segment, sold by Sun Pharma, Torrent, Intas and Micro Labs, faces tighter chemist compliance and packaging warning requirements.

Why this matters

The Schedule H1 reclassification adds pregabalin to a controlled list previously used for habit-forming drugs, raising compliance load on chemists and audit exposure for the four leading manufacturers in the CNS segment.

Retail-brand signals steady at 528 over the last 90 days.