How to find out what’s in your medicine

Want to know what’s in your medicines? There are a few ways to find out.

Start with the label

The obvious place to start is with the medicine’s label. Labels have information about active ingredients and how much is in each tablet or capsule.

However, medicine labels don't always list all the inactive ingredients. Inactive ingredients are those that don’t directly improve our health. They often have another purpose, such as making medicines taste better or last longer. 

Sometimes you won’t have access to the medicine’s packaging. Some medicines like vaccines are given to you directly by a health professional. In other cases, the label may be too small to include all ingredients.

Look up the consumer medicine information

For vaccines, prescription medicines and some over-the-counter medicines, the ingredients are also in the consumer medicine information leaflet, or CMI. The CMI also contains other important information about the medicine and its use.

Your pharmacist will give you a CMI when you start a new medicine, or you can ask for one from them.

Search the ARTG

Every medicine approved in Australia has a summary which includes its ingredients. These are in the online Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG).

Enter the medicine name or its AUST number, which is on the label, into the ARTG.

Once you find your medicine, go to the ‘summary’ section and download the PDF file. This provides a range of information, including the ingredient list.

Contact the medicine supplier

There may be some information about your medicine that you may only get from the supplier. This includes:

• ingredients within a flavour, fragrance or colour mixture
• manufacturing impurities or contaminants
• components of an ingredient (such as caffeine in a herbal extract)
• source of an ingredient (such as whether it is of animal origin).

If this information is important to you, you will need to get in touch with the medicine supplier. Their contact details are on the medicine label.

If you have any questions about medicines or their ingredients, ask your doctor or pharmacist.

You can speak to a pharmacist by calling the Medicines Line on 1300 134 237. Calls are answered by registered pharmacists who can provide information on medicines. The service is available Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm AEST.