What the term denotes
Tablet is a dosage form: material compressed into a solid unit. It describes physical presentation. It says nothing about composition, regulatory status or purpose.
Format carries no status
That something is presented as a tablet tells you about manufacturing and handling. It tells you nothing about whether it is approved, regulated, or intended for any particular use. Approved medicines are tablets; so are many things that are not medicines.
Research use only
Everything grouped under this heading in our catalog is designated research use only. That designation marks material as intended for laboratory research and explicitly not for diagnostic or therapeutic use. It describes intended use — it is not a statement about quality, and it does not create a category of permitted use in people.
Documentation to expect
A certificate of analysis for the lot, stated composition per unit, count per container, and storage conditions.
Records worth keeping
Lot, count received, expiry and storage location. Unit counts drift more than people expect, so recording the count at receipt is worth the thirty seconds.
Authoritative sources
US government publications, linked for reference. None of these evaluate, approve or endorse anything in this catalog.
- 21 CFR Part 809 (eCFR) ↗
The federal regulation containing the research-use-only labelling provision for in vitro diagnostic products.
- FDA — Unapproved Drugs ↗
FDA's explanation of what it means for a product to be unapproved, and how it treats them.
- NIH DailyMed ↗
National Library of Medicine archive of approved product labelling, useful for seeing how an approved label is actually worded.
- NIH PubChem ↗
National Library of Medicine chemical database. Structure, identifiers and published literature for a named compound.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a tablet, as a classification?
- A dosage form — material compressed into a solid unit. It is a description of physical presentation and carries no regulatory or functional meaning.
- Does tablet form mean something is a medicine?
- No. Dosage form and regulatory status are independent. Approved medicines are frequently tablets, and so are many things that are not medicines at all.
- What should a certificate of analysis show for a tablet product?
- The lot it applies to, stated composition per unit, and the analytical method behind any potency figure. Everything on a CoA applies only to the lot it names.