Why on Earth do medical companies insist on using blister packaging for the larger packages of arthritis medication?

I can understand it for the smaller, but packaging 100 pills in blister packs with ten slots on each board is just stupid. At least when it comes to arthritis medication.

I have three different painkillers; Tramagetic Retard (Nycomed), Arthrotec (Pfizer) and Paracet (Weifa) When getting Paracetamol from Weifa, and not the replacement, it comes in a bottle. Tramagetic and Arthrotec come in blister packaging, and I have to pop out a total of 100 pills of each into bottles every damn time I get a new supply.

I know there are lots of people with more severe arthritis than I have, who would appreciate not having to pop pills out of blister packs. It hurts, and it’s difficult when your joints are stiff.

I haven’t read anything that says Tramagetic and Arthrotec are sensitive to air, and pill bottles today (at least in Norway) are as hard to tamper with as blister packaging. I’m pretty sure bottles would be cheaper to use, although I haven’t checked. In addition to this, blister packs make for a lot of non-recyclable garbage. The bottles can at least be reused or recycled as plastic if they wanted to do so. I hope Nycomed and Pfizer see this post and decide to do something about it.