Arguing that penalties of $1.7 million imposed on Reckitt Benckiser over its Nurofen Specific Pain products might be viewed as “simply a cost of doing business”, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is appealing the Federal Court’s decision.
In December 2015, following admissions by Reckitt Benckiser, the Federal Court found Reckitt Benckiser engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct by making representations on its website and product packaging that Nurofen Specific Pain products were each formulated to specifically treat a particular type of pain.
However, each Nurofen Specific Pain product contained the same active ingredient, ibuprofen lysine 342mg, which treats a wide variety of pain conditions and is no more effective at treating the type of pain described on its packaging than any of the other Nurofen Specific Pain products.
The Nurofen Specific Pain product range consists of Nurofen Back Pain, Nurofen Period Pain, Nurofen Migraine Pain and Nurofen Tension Headache. During the period from 2011 to 2015, the Nurofen Specific Pain products were sold across thousands of retail and pharmacy stores nationwide.
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This story first appeared in C&I Week.