# Horse pills **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 13, 2003, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horse-pills/148363 "2003-01-13T20:43:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@Lure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lure)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horse-pills/148363/1 "2003-01-13T20:43:59Z")
Why do different companies put out differring sizes of the same drug/supplement at comparable dosage levels? I understand there are supposedly better mediums to release these chemicals in,but why the disparity? Case in point.I started taking GC a couple months ago hoping for some improvement in joint health,As my initial purchase was running out,I noticed Walgreens had their house brand on sale so I bought them. My old pills were of a horse-well maybe young colt size-and I was to take 2 twice a day pref.with meals. The Walgreens brand are capsules taken (1) 3 times a day,no mention of meals. My question,why the 2 different types of pills,and whose are more effective? (I understand,esp.with supplements,some manufacturers may not be as consistent with their quality as others) The 2 different regimens,BTW,add up to the same total GC per day. I’ve observed this in different vitamins and other meds,too.Not necessarily tablet to capsule but different sizes at the same dose. ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horse-pills/148363/2 "2003-01-13T20:53:58Z")
Keep in mind drugs and over the counter suppliments are not subject to the same rules. Since there is less regulation of suppliments you have to go by the labels for actual active ingredient content if they list it at all. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horse-pills/148363/3 "2003-01-13T21:23:48Z")
As for the point about differing size of medications (not vitamins), remember that it’s not solely medicine in the tablet. Tablets also contain various binders, buffering agents, coatings to make it easier to swallow/allow for time-release, and so forth. ---
**Author:** ![jeel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/71e660/32.png) [@jeel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jeel)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horse-pills/148363/4 "2003-01-13T21:42:08Z")
This is more of a question than an answer; Could it be so that pills can be identified by pharmacists? ---
**Author:** ![miatachris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@miatachris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miatachris)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horse-pills/148363/5 "2003-01-13T21:52:10Z")
About what you’d think – money. If using one machine or one set of binders over another saves money, then they’ll do it in a heartbeat. Especially in an OTC supplement like Glucosamine/Chondroitin: there’s really no standard for that kind of stuff anyway, as noted above. _“These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA…”_ is the phrase that pays. People will shop OTCs by price and will choose cheaper brands if they’re available. miatachris, R.Ph. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horse-pills/148363/6 "2003-01-13T22:48:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jeel \* > \*\*This is more of a question than an answer; > > Could it be so that pills can be identified by pharmacists? \*\* I would say no. I spent the summer working in a pharmceutical lab, and there were quite often pills from different manufacturers/different active ingredients that looked alike (this is an outsourcing company, so we have many different companies as clients). I remember one pill was a heartworm pill for dogs and another was a potential Parkinsons’ drug and these two pills looked the same except for an imprint on them which wasn’t all that big (I think one was a D and the other M, but I don’t remember for sure).