Where are the coated generic tablets?

As a retired pharmacist and now, increasingly, a consumer of pharmaceutical products, I am dismayed at the prevalence of generic uncoated tablets. These can be very difficult to swallow — even those that last the shortest time in the mouth can give a most unpleasant taste and some, such as amitriptyline, can easily stick in the throat and cause a burning sensation. It seems that this is all driven by producing the very cheapest product. But manufacturers should spare a thought for the ageing and vulnerable having to take multiple tablets every day, when life is difficult enough.

David Crossley, retired pharmacist, Yorkshire