The Royal Pharmaceutical Society has pledged to campaign for pharmacists to be able to dispense medicines in original packs.
Almost two thirds of respondents to an English Pharmacy Board (EPB) survey said snipping packs to supply the prescribed amount was a significant problem.
Nearly 4,000 pharmacists responded to the survey, which RPSGB director for England Howard Duff said gave the Society a "clear mandate" to campaign on the issue.
At a meeting last week, representatives from the NPA, CCA, AIMp and several large multiples backed the calls for original pack dispensing, Mr Duff told C+D.
NHS paymasters the Business Services Authority and UK medicines regulator the MHRA also contributed to the discussion.
The Society would use this support and mandate to persuade the government to implement original pack dispensing, it pledged.
But prior to the Society's first meeting with the Department of Health, a timescale for action could not be given, Mr Duff said. "All roads now lead to the DH," he added.
The Society's campaign would have three aims, Mr Duff said. First, to allow pharmacists to supply the most suitable original pack for a given prescription and be reimbursed accordingly. The second would be to agree a uniform pack size for a month's supply, and the third to make it easier for GPs to prescribe in original pack sizes, such as by agreeing changes to their computer software.
