By Aspen Bitta

People have been taking pain killers from household high street chemist Boots that have been labelled incorrectly. Consumers of the tablets are upset as there was a dangerous mix up of pain killers they have recently purchased. The first batches of paracetamol 500mg tablets were distributed through Boots stores and Boots online pharmacy near the start of the year but the medicine recall wasn't issued until the 4th of March 2025. So, while the box read paracetamol, the foil blister on the inside of the box states ‘Aspirin 300 mg Dispersible Tablets’.

After a customer complaint about the different packaging, the product manufacturer ‘Aspar Pharmaceuticals Limited’ has informed the Medicines and Healthcare Products and Regulatory Agency (MHRA) of an error. The packages were then recalled and fully investigated; it was confirmed that the tablets inside the blister packs were Paracetamol 500mg tablets and not Aspirin 300mg tablets, which is what was printed on the front of the foil blister, so consumers were not in any danger.

Any customer or patient who has purchased the paracetamol are being told to stop using the batch immediately and return any of the packs to Boots stores with or without a receipt, where you will be given a full refund.

If anyone has taken tablets from the batch and has concerns, you should seek advice from your pharmacist or another relevant healthcare professional. Patients who have taken the tablets and experience adverse reactions should seek medical attention immediately and report it to ‘MHRA yellow card scheme’.

Recipients of this Medicines Notification should bring it to the attention of relevant contacts by copy of this notice. NHS regional teams were asked to forward all the relevant information to community pharmacists and dispensing general practitioners for information. Now retailers and wholesalers have been told to stop supplying the impacted batch immediately, quarantine all stock and return it to the supplier.

Boots sells wrongly labelled paracetamol