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Spain to cut antibiotic pack sizes in bid to tackle overuse
Tourists and residents alike have been known to stock up on antibiotics from Spanish pharmacies
Spain is introducing more changes to how antibiotics are dispensed in pharmacies, with plans to reduce standard pack sizes in an effort to tackle overuse and growing resistance to medications.
It is not just residents who keep spare antibiotics at home. Tourists from the UK and elsewhere have long taken advantage of Spain’s more relaxed access to certain medications, often stocking up to avoid paying for GP appointments back home. That trend has previously been linked to shortages, as well as concerns about people taking antibiotics without proper medical advice.
Now, the health authorities are stepping in to tighten things up.
The Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products (AEMPS), working under the Ministry of Health, has announced that larger boxes of antibiotics will be phased out and replaced with smaller packs that better reflect actual treatment needs.
Essentially, that means saying goodbye to the standard 30-tablet boxes. Many common antibiotic treatments only require around 20 tablets, yet patients have typically been given more than they need, leaving leftovers sitting in medicine cabinets.
Health experts have repeatedly warned that this easy access can lead to people self-medicating later on, often without seeing a doctor. That kind of misuse is one of the key drivers behind antibiotic resistance, where bacteria adapt and treatments become less effective over time.
One commonly cited example is amoxicillin. A typical course might involve taking three tablets a day for seven days, which adds up to 21 tablets. Under the current system, patients are often given a box of 30, meaning a third of the medication goes unused.
By reducing pack sizes, health authorities hope to cut down on leftover antibiotics, limit the temptation to self-medicate and reduce waste.
The transition won’t happen overnight though. Both formats will remain available for now, with the smaller 20-tablet packs expected to fully replace the larger boxes by 2027.
"Multidrug-resistant bacteria cause 35,000 deaths annually in Europe and generate an additional €1.5 billion in healthcare costs per year," according to the National Plan Against Antibiotic Resistance.
This strategic action plan warns of the risks and consequences of the misuse of antibiotics, as their effectiveness is rapidly decreasing each year.
"If we continue consuming antibiotics at the current rate, Europe could regress to the pre-antibiotic era, when a common bacterial infection, such as pneumonia, could be a death sentence," it explains.
Image: AEMPS
