(Newswire.net — July 26, 2016) — Whether we buy codeine phosphate online or from a high street pharmacy, most of us rely on the information on the box to determine which tablets we need for a particular type of pain, be it a migraine, backache, period pains or tension headaches… but what happens if the box is misleading?
Governing bodies such as the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), are there to control pharmaceutical giants, and ensure that misleading products do not reach the supermarket shelves, but a recent court case in Australia found that Nurofen tablets and caplets are being sold worldwide as ‘pain-specific’ medicines, despite not being nearly as ‘specific’ as the manufacturers claim.
Nurofen Painkillers Removed from Shelves in Australia
In December 2015, Reckitt Benckiser, the UK manufacturer of Nurofen painkillers, was found guilty by an Australian Court of misleading customers with its pain specific range, which includes Nurofen Migraine Pain, Nurofen Period Pain, Nurofen Tension Headache, and Nurofen Back Pain.
The drug giant labelled the painkillers as “targeted relief” formulated to treat different types of pain, but the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), found that all of the drugs in this range contain exactly the same amount (342mg) of ibuprofen lysine, the main active ingredient, and that they were no more effective than Nurofen’s standard ibuprofen painkillers that are 50 per cent cheaper than those in the pain specific range.
As a result of the legal action launched by the ACCC, a court in Australia has ruled that the Nurofen Pain Specific range must be removed from shops and pharmacies across the country within 3 months, and that Reckitt Benckiser could face a possible fine, which will be determined in a subsequent court hearing later this year.
In its defence, Aomesh Bhatt, Head of Regulatory and Medical Affairs at Reckitt Benckiser said, “Nurofen did not set out to mislead consumers.” While spokeswoman for Nurofen, Montse Pena continued, “The Nurofen specific-pain range was launched with an intention to help consumers navigate their pain relief options, particularly within the grocery environment where there is no health care professional to assist decision making.”
However, in order to comply with the ruling, which is only applicable to Nurofen painkillers sold in Australia, Reckitt Benckiser has said that they will replace the packaging for the range, and that the new boxes will clearly state that the drugs are equally effective at treating all forms of pain.
But Nurofen pain specific products will retain the original packaging across the rest of the world…
UK’s Opinion on the Nurofen Case
When asked about its opinion on the Nurofen case, a spokeswoman for the MHRA said, “For over-the-counter medicines, informative names are permitted to help patients select an appropriate product without input from a healthcare professional,” she continued, “The MHRA has no remit on medicine pricing, and tends to intervene only when a product’s name or description makes a medically misleading claim.”
However, the Independent newspaper recently revealed that the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), are set to examine complaints that Reckitt Benckiser are misleading consumers with its choice of labelling, and that a British investigation is now underway.
Shopping for Painkillers: What to Look Out For
In a bid to help the British public make more informed choices when shopping for painkillers online, or at a local pharmacy, editor at leading Consumer Affairs Group Which? Richard Headland said, “Our research shows many painkilling medicines have exactly the same active ingredients, despite vastly different marketing, packaging and pricing. Our advice to people is to buy cheaper generic medicines wherever possible and, if in doubt, ask a pharmacist.”