Reckitt Benckiser has defended the packaging of its Nurofen brand of painkillers and said it is confident products won’t be pulled from the shelves in the UK as they have in Australia, as it faces allegations of ‘misleading’ consumers.
It comes after Australia’s Federal Court ordered RB to remove some of its popular painkillers from Australian retailers due to ‘misleading’ claims.
The court in Australia ruled that Nurofen Back Pain, Period Pain, Migraine Pain and Tension Headache products were, in fact, identical products and Reckitt Benckiser had ‘engaged in misleading conduct’ by labelling them for different ailments.
In a statement, RB said the case related to “Australia only and is not applicable to other countries/regions”.
“All Nurofen products in the UK are not affected and continue to be available,” the company said. “The products impacted represent 5% of the Australian Nurofen range and the packaging agreed with the Australian Agency is to be replaced with an interim pack in due course. Most Nurofen products are not affected and continue to be available for sale.”
All over the counter medicines licensed for sale in the UK are approved by the Medicines & Healthcare Products and Regulatory Agency.
An MHRA spokeswoman added: “MHRA is responsible for ensuring the quality, safety, and efficacy of medicines including over-the-counter painkillers. For over-the-counter medicines informative names are permitted to help patients select an appropriate product without input from a healthcare professional.”
But while the brand is allowed to label its products with informative names to help consumers in the UK, the rules in Australia are stricter.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which brought the court action in Australia, said each product contained the same active ingredient – ibuprofen lysine 342mg – and was no more effective at treating the type of pain described on its packaging than any of the other Nurofen specific pain products.
It said RB had three months to remove the products from Australian stores, which according to three Sydney pharmacies were sold at almost double the price of the company’s standard painkiller.
“The ACCC took these proceedings because it was concerned that consumers may have purchased these products in the belief that they specifically treated a certain type of pain, based on the representations on the packaging when this was not the case,” ACCC chairman Rod Sims said.
ASA investigation
Separately, the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority has launched an investigation into one of RB’s Nurofen adverts to see if it might lead to consumer confusion.
After receiving 12 complaints about a Nurofen Express advert, the ASA is looking at whether the ad implies the product directly targets muscles in the head.
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