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news.An Australian court has ordered Reckitt Benckiser to remove some of its Nurofen pain relief products from retail stores for misleading consumers by marketing identical products for several types of pain.
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The Australian federal court ruled that Nurofen’s varieties for back pain, period pain, migraine pain and tension headaches were all found to feature the same active ingredient, 342 milligrams of ibuprofen lysine.
Reckitt Benckiser has been ordered to remove Nurofen Back Pain, Nurofen Period Pain, Nurofen Migraine Pain and Nurofen Tension Headache from retail shelves within three months.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) brought the court action against Reckitt Benckiser, which admitted in engaging in the contravening conduct.
ACCC chairman Rod Sims said: "Price sampling conducted by the ACCC before the proceedings were commenced indicated that the Nurofen Specific Pain products were being sold at retail prices almost double that of Nurofen’s standard ibuprofen products and the general pain relief products of its competitors.
"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."
The company was also ordered to publish website and newspaper articles to clarify its status, implement a consumer protection compliance program and pay the ACCC’s costs.
A court hearing date on a potential fine is yet to be decided.