14th Dec 2015 08:54
SYDNEY (Alliance News) - The maker of the painkiller Nurofen will have to remove some of its products from shop shelves in Australia, after a court ruled that the firm had made misleading claims about the pills' effectiveness.
Ruling on complaints made by the fair trading regulator, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the Federal Court found Monday that Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC made misleading claims on the packets of four products: Nurofen Back Pain, Nurofen Period Pain, Nurofen Migraine Pain and Nurofen Tension Headache.
The same claims were on the firm's website, www.nurofen.com.au, the court said.
The "Specific Pain" pills all contained the same amount of the active ingredient, 342 milligrams of ibuprofen lysine.
The drugs were "no more effective at treating the type of pain described on its packaging than any of the other Nurofen Specific Pain products," the court ruled, according to an ACCC statement.
The tablets sell for almost double the price of standard Nurofen tablets.
The court ordered that the four pain products be removed from stores over the next three months, and that the company place corrective notices in newspapers and on its website.
"Reckitt Benckiser admitted that it had engaged in the contravening conduct and consented to the orders made by the court," the statement said.
The company will also have to pay a fine, to be determined by the court at a later date.
Copyright dpa
Related Shares:
RB..L