The competition watchdog is taking court action against the maker of the popular painkiller Nurofen, accusing it of misleading customers with some of its products.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) says at least four Nurofen products marketed as being formulated to treat specific ailments, including back pain and migraines, all contain the same active ingredient.
Tablets in each of the products contain 242 milligrams of ibuprofen lysine, with no other active ingredients listed.
The action has been instituted by the ACCC against Nurofen maker Reckitt Benckiser in the Federal Court.
The painkillers were approved by the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods but the ACCC says the claims made about them are false and misleading.
“We allege that consumers have been misled into purchasing Nurofen specific pain products under the belief that each product is specifically designed for and effective in treating a particular type of pain when this is not the case,” said ACCC chairman Rod Sims.
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“The retail price of the Nurofen specific pain products is significantly above that of other comparable analgesic products that also act as general pain relievers.
“Recent price sampling conducted by the ACCC revealed that these products are being sold at retail prices around double that of Nurofen’s standard ibuprofen products and standard products of its competitors.
Top Comments
The checkout on the ABC pointed this out, also how we are being ripped off for moisturisers, when sorbalene and vitamin e cream is all you need for only a few bucks
I also saw that sorbelene cream and baby sorbelene are the exact same formula except baby sorbelene was double the price!
Ha, I worked this out years ago. Needed some pain relief for period pain and saw the nurofen product, noticed it cost a lot more than the regular nurofen compared the ingredients, put both back down and bought advil instead. I never have and never will buy nurofen again.