Australian Court: Reckitt Benckiser misled consumers on Nurofen

An Australian court ordered Reckitt Benckiser to pull several of its Nurofen pain relief products from shelves, saying yesterday the British firm had misled consumers by marketing identical items for different types of pain.

The Federal Court ruled that the Nurofen Back Pain, Period Pain, Migraine Pain, and Tension Headache products were identical and that Reckitt Benckiser had “engaged in misleading conduct” by labelling them for different ailments.

“We have known for years that they are all the same,” said a pharmacist at Priceline Pharmacy’s Sydney city store.