Medicines and prescriptions
What Does Film-Coated Mean on a Tablet Label?
Film-coated · say it: FILM KOH-tidAlso written: film-coated tablet, coated tablet, FCT
Short answer
Film-coated means a tablet has a thin outer layer that makes it easier to swallow, masks taste, or protects the medicine inside.
What it means
A film-coated tablet has a very thin polymer layer around it. The coating can make the tablet smoother and easier to swallow, hide a bitter taste, protect the medicine from light or moisture, add colour for identification, or protect people handling the tablet from contact with the medicine inside.
Labels and leaflets mention film coating in the description of the tablet and sometimes in the directions. Some say 'swallow whole, do not crush or chew'. This can be because crushing would release the medicine too fast, affect the taste, or, for medicines such as finasteride, expose others to the medicine. If you have trouble swallowing tablets, ask a pharmacist before crushing or splitting any.
Film coating is different from an enteric coating, which is designed to stop the tablet dissolving in the stomach, and from extended-release designs, which release medicine slowly. A plain film coating usually does not change how the medicine works.
Where you may see it
- The 'Dosage Forms and Strengths' and 'Description' sections of medicine labels
- Pharmacy labels and packaging ('film-coated tablets')
- Leaflets under 'How to take'
📄 How it looks on a report
Each film-coated tablet contains 5 mg of the active ingredient.
🙅 What it does not mean
- Film-coated does not mean slow-release. That is a separate design and is usually labelled separately.
- The coating is not an extra medicine; it is an inactive ingredient.
- It does not always mean you can crush the tablet; check with a pharmacist first.
🗒️ Questions to ask your doctor
🧾 Reports where you will see “Film-coated”
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💊 Medicines whose labels mention “Film-coated”
Plain-English explanations of each medicine, from its official FDA label.
- Albendazole
an anthelmintic drug, a medicine used to treat infections caused by parasitic worms
- Apixaban
A factor Xa inhibitor, a blood thinner medicine (anticoagulant)
- Atorvastatin
a statin, a cholesterol-lowering medicine of the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor type
- Azithromycin
a macrolide antibacterial (antibiotic) medicine
- Carvedilol
A beta-blocker. The FDA lists it as both an alpha-adrenergic blocker and a beta-adrenergic blocker.
- Ciprofloxacin
a fluoroquinolone antibacterial medicine
- Citalopram
a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), a type of antidepressant medicine
- Clopidogrel
A platelet inhibitor of the P2Y12 type (a thienopyridine). It is a blood thinner that keeps platelets from sticking together.
- Dapagliflozin
a sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor, a type of diabetes medicine
- Dolutegravir
an HIV-1 integrase strand transfer inhibitor (INSTI), a type of HIV medicine
🔗 Read more from trusted sources
- “Film-coated” on MedlinePlus ↗
US National Library of Medicine
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