Australia removes a number of nurofen products from shelves over misleading claims

From the BBC website

Reckitt Benckiser, the maker of a range of Nurofen products based on the active ingredient ibuprofen lysine, has been ordered by an Australian court to remove a number of its products, including Nurofen Back Pain, Nurofen Period Pain, Nurofen Migraine Pain and Nurofen Tension Headache, from shop shelves.

The action was taken by the Australian consumer watchdog, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), who argued in court that there was no difference between the different branded drugs used to treat different types of pain but which all contained the same levels of the active ingredient, ibuprofen lysin. The Federal Court of Australia has given the company 3 months to remove the products from Australian shelves.

The move has no effect in other jurisdictions around the world but may prompt further investigations. A spokesperson for Reckitt Benckiser said “Nurofen did not set out to mislead consumers”.

Update: The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is now investigating a number of complaints made against Nurofen about an ad on Nurofen Express. Similar complaints are being investgated in New Zealand too.

Leave a Reply

%d bloggers like this: