Not all FDC are banned. Some are very useful. Primary reason is to reduce pill count. Say, if you take one FDC with 3 or 2 active drugs - you just take one tablet instead of taking 2 or 3 tablets. Easy for the patient. Another reason is some good combinations work better together like amoxicillin + Clav. From a cost perspective it could appear that FDC are logically cheaper . On the contrary , FDC are more expensive often. Pharma companies push for the same. Government has a price control on many mono drugs. Paracetamol plain tablet has a price ceiling . But Paracetamol + caffeine does not have a price ceiling and is more expensive . So in a country like India many unethical combinations are approved - owing to pharma company greed. The initially approve and the goby realises it is bad and bans it. Several hundred FDC are this banned. But there are several FDC that are scientific, rationally combined and advantageous to the patient .