White Horse Pharmaceuticals Product List in Bangladesh

The White Horse Pharmaceuticals Ltd makes a compact range of prescription and over-the-counter tablets, weighted heavily towards diabetes. Most of what it sells treats a long-term condition that someone takes daily for years.

The sections below group the range by what each medicine treats, and give the generic name alongside the brand name. That second name is the one that matters when you are checking whether two boxes contain the same drug. Nothing here replaces the instructions on your own prescription.

Diabetes Medicines

The largest part of the range by some distance, covering four different drug classes. They lower blood sugar by different routes, which is why a doctor may prescribe two together.

Metformin — the Metfar tablets

Metformin is usually the first tablet prescribed in type 2 diabetes. It comes here in three forms:

• Metfar 500 Tablet 500mg
• Metfar 850 Tablet 850mg
• Metfar SR 500 Tablet 500mg — the modified-release version, covered below

Take it with or straight after food. Loose stool, nausea and a metallic taste are common in the first weeks and usually settle. Metformin does not cause low blood sugar on its own, which is part of why it is the starting point.

SR and standard are not the same tablet

This is the mistake the naming makes easy. Metfar SR 500 Tablet 500mg and the plain 500 carry the same number but are not swapped one for one — the SR releases slowly and is taken on a different schedule.

The same applies across the gliclazide pair below. If a pharmacy hands you a box that says SR or MR when your prescription does not, or the other way round, ask before you start it.

Sulfonylureas — Pride and Glimicron

These push the pancreas to release more insulin, so unlike metformin they can drive blood sugar too low. The range covers both common ones:

• Pride 1 Tablet 1mg and Pride 2 Tablet 2mg — glimepiride
• Glimicron 80 Tablet 80mg — standard gliclazide
• Glimicron MR 30 Tablet 30mg — modified-release gliclazide, on a different dose scale entirely

Low blood sugar, and fasting

Shaking, sweating, sudden hunger, a pounding heart or confusion can all mean blood sugar has dropped. Treat it immediately with something sweet, then eat properly. Carry glucose if you take one of these.

Skipping a meal is the usual trigger, which makes fasting the situation to plan for. Speak to your doctor before fasting in Ramadan if you take a sulfonylurea. Doses and timings often need changing, and that is a conversation to have in advance rather than on the first day.

Pioglitazone — Lit 15

Lit 15 Tablet 15mg works by making the body more sensitive to its own insulin. It causes fluid retention in some people, so it is avoided in heart failure.

Swelling ankles, sudden weight gain or new breathlessness are reasons to go back to your doctor rather than push on. Blood in the urine should also be reported, and so should bone pain, because fracture risk rises on long-term use.

The combination tablet

Galet-M 500 Tablet 500mg+50mg puts metformin and vildagliptin in one tablet. Severe abdominal pain that bores through to the back needs urgent attention, because pancreatitis is a rare effect of this class.

Thyroid — Carbiroid

Carbimazole treats an overactive thyroid. Two strengths are listed, Carbiroid Tablet 5mg and Carbiroid 10, and only the first carries its strength in the registered name.

The sore throat rule

This is the single most important thing to know about carbimazole. It can, rarely, shut down the white cells that fight infection. A sore throat, mouth ulcers, fever or a flu-like illness while taking it is not a minor thing.

Stop the tablet and get an urgent blood count the same day. Do not wait to see whether the sore throat settles. Carbimazole also needs specialist advice in pregnancy or when planning one.

Heart and Cholesterol

Two different lipid drugs

Avocard 10 Tablet 10mg is atorvastatin, a statin, which mainly lowers LDL cholesterol. Fibre Capsule 200mg is fenofibrate, a fibrate, which mainly lowers triglycerides. They are not alternatives to each other.

Muscle pain on either of them

Both classes can affect muscle, and the risk is higher when they are taken together. Unexplained muscle pain, tenderness or weakness — particularly with dark urine or a fever — means stopping and ringing your doctor, not waiting for the next appointment.

“Fibre Capsule” Is Not a Fibre Supplement

It is worth saying separately, because the name invites the wrong conclusion. Fibre Capsule 200mg contains fenofibrate, a prescription lipid-lowering drug. It has nothing to do with dietary fibre, psyllium husk or anything taken for constipation.

If you came looking for a fibre supplement, this is not it. Check the generic name on any box before taking it, which on this one reads fenofibrate.

Stomach and Bowel

Dominol, for nausea and vomiting

Dominol Tablet 10mg is domperidone. It is a short-course medicine, used at the lowest dose that works and usually for no more than about a week, because of an effect on heart rhythm.

It is not suitable for everyone with existing heart disease, and it interacts with several other drugs. That is why it is prescription-controlled rather than something to keep in the cupboard for indigestion.

Picodin, for constipation

Sodium picosulfate is a stimulant laxative, listed as Picodin and Picodin 10. Stimulant laxatives are for short courses. The bowel adapts to daily use, so more is needed for the same result.

Never take one for abdominal pain that has not been explained. Constipation with vomiting, a swollen abdomen or blood needs assessing first.

Allergy — Drowsy and Less Drowsy

Two antihistamines are listed, and the practical difference between them is sleepiness. Fextive 120 Tablet 120mg is fexofenadine, which is among the least sedating. Sarcet-10 Tablet 10mg is cetirizine, which makes a minority of people noticeably drowsy.

Do not drive or handle machinery until you know how either one affects you, and be careful about combining an antihistamine with alcohol.

Vitamins and Minerals

What is in the range

• Tri-B Tablet — vitamins B1, B6 and B12
• Neocal 500 Tablet 500mg — calcium carbonate
• Neocal D Tablet — calcium with vitamin D3
• Power Gold — a multivitamin and multimineral
• Bio-7 Tablet 1000mcg — biotin, at a high dose

The metformin and B12 link

Two of this brand’s own products connect here. Long-term metformin lowers vitamin B12 absorption in a meaningful number of people, and low B12 shows up as tiredness, pins and needles or numb feet.

It is checked with a blood test rather than guessed at, so ask for one rather than starting a B vitamin on suspicion.

High-dose biotin distorts blood tests

This one catches people out and matters more than it sounds. Biotin at supplement doses interferes with several common laboratory tests, including thyroid function and the troponin test used to diagnose a heart attack.

The result can look normal when it is not, or abnormal when it is not. Tell your doctor and the laboratory that you take biotin before any blood test. Anyone taking a thyroid medicine such as carbimazole should be particularly careful about this combination.

Calcium spacing

Calcium binds several medicines in the gut and stops them being absorbed, including thyroid hormone, iron and some antibiotics. Leaving a few hours between them solves it. Check with a pharmacist rather than assuming.

Pain Relief

Paracet Plus combines paracetamol with caffeine. The caffeine is there to sharpen the effect of the paracetamol, not as a separate painkiller.

The thing to watch is the total paracetamol in a day. It hides in cold remedies and combination tablets, and going over the limit damages the liver in a way that produces almost no symptoms until it is advanced. Count everything you take, not just the box labelled paracetamol.

Men’s Health

Yogra 100 Tablet 100mg is sildenafil. It is prescription-only, and the reason is one specific interaction rather than the drug itself.

Never with a nitrate

Taken with a nitrate heart medicine — a glyceryl trinitrate spray, isosorbide tablets, anything used for angina — sildenafil can drop blood pressure dangerously. That combination is never acceptable, whatever the gap between doses.

An erection lasting more than four hours is an emergency. Sudden loss of vision or hearing means stopping and seeking care the same day.

Reading a White Horse Pack

The brand name is the large word. The generic name is the smaller one underneath, and it is the one that tells you what the tablet actually is. The strength is the number, and it is the part most often missing from a spoken instruction.

Several listings here carry no strength in their registered name at all. Where that happens, the strength is still on the box and on the product page, and it is worth confirming against your prescription before the first dose.

Where White Horse Sits on Arogga

The range spreads across several therapeutic shelves, so the quickest route to a particular tablet is usually its class:

• Most of it sits under Endocrine & Metabolic System, and within that Anti-Diabetic (Oral Hypoglycemic Drugs).
• The diabetes tablets then split between Sulfonylureas and Biguanides.
• Carbimazole sits under Thyroid Hormones & Anti Thyroid.
• The statin and the fibrate sit under Cardiovascular System, within Lipid Regulation.
• The antihistamines sit under Allergic Disorders, and the supplements under Vitamin, Mineral & Nutritional Deficiency.

About White Horse Pharmaceuticals

The White Horse Pharmaceuticals Ltd is a Bangladeshi manufacturer with a focused portfolio rather than a broad one. Its weight sits in metabolic medicine — diabetes above all, then thyroid, lipids and a short list of everyday tablets around them.

Pack sizes, strengths, prescription status and current availability are on each product page rather than here, because they change. The grid above this text is the live list of what Arogga holds from this manufacturer.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Can I swap Metfar 500 for Metfar SR 500?

Not on your own. The SR version releases slowly and is taken on a different schedule, even though both boxes show the same number. The same applies to standard and MR gliclazide. Ask the prescriber or the pharmacist if a box arrives that does not match the prescription.

2. What does low blood sugar feel like?

Shaking, sweating, sudden hunger, a racing heart, irritability or confusion. Treat it at once with something sweet, then eat a proper meal. It happens on sulfonylureas such as glimepiride and gliclazide, and skipping meals is the usual reason.

3. Can I fast while taking a diabetes tablet?

Many people can, but not on the same doses and not without planning. Sulfonylureas are the ones that need attention. Talk to your doctor before Ramadan rather than during it, because timings and strengths usually have to change.

4. I have a sore throat and I take Carbiroid. What should I do?

Stop the tablet and get a blood count the same day. Carbimazole can rarely suppress the white cells that fight infection, and a sore throat, mouth ulcers or fever is the warning sign. This is not something to wait out.

5. Is Fibre Capsule a fibre supplement?

No. Despite the name it contains fenofibrate, a prescription medicine for high triglycerides. It does nothing for constipation and should not be bought as a dietary fibre product.

6. Does biotin really affect blood tests?

Yes, at supplement strengths. It can skew thyroid results and the troponin test used to diagnose a heart attack, in either direction. Tell your doctor and the laboratory that you take it before any blood test.

7. Why does a medicine for erectile dysfunction need a prescription?

Mainly because of nitrates. Sildenafil taken with a nitrate heart medicine can cause a dangerous fall in blood pressure, and men in that situation often do not know the interaction exists. A prescriber checks for it.

8. How do I know two boxes contain the same medicine?

Compare the generic name and the strength, not the brand name. Different manufacturers give the same drug different brand names, and the generic line on the pack is what tells you they match.