Nurofen ‘specific pain’ headache worsens

NUROFEN is facing a fresh headache over its dodgy ‘Specific Pain’ range, with a class action seeking millions of dollars.

NUROFEN maker Reckitt Benckiser is facing a fresh headache over its dodgy ‘Specific Pain’ range, with a new class action seeking millions of dollars in refunds.

Tens of thousands, possibly millions of consumers who purchased Nurofen’s so-called Specific Pain Range between January 2011 and December 2015 could be eligible for refunds and damages.

The Federal Court on Thursday held the first hearing in the class action brought by Bannister Law. Reckitt Benckiser has already been found guilty of misleading conduct in a separate but related case brought by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

The ACCC is seeking up to $6 million in fines after the court found the drugmaker had duped consumers into purchasing Specific Pain products for headaches, back pain and period pain.

The products, which were up to twice as expensive as standard Nurofen, contained the same active ingredient, ibuprofen lysine 342mg.

That penalty decision is expected in the coming weeks. If the class action is successful, the total refund figure will easily run into the millions, news.com.au understands.

“In essence, the applicants allege that the conduct was misleading and deceptive and that there was a failure to comply with the various statutory guarantees imposed by the Australian Consumer Law,” barrister Peter Cashman told the court.

“The respondents admit that the conduct was misleading and deceptive, but have denied noncompliance with the statutory guarantees.”

Peter Moore spent at least $600 on Nurofen products.

One plaintiff in the case, Peter ‘Bastion’ Moore, 51, has been living with HIV for more than two decades and takes more than 30 medications a day.

He says he used to buy Nurofen Specific Pain products to deal with his “excruciating” migraines and back pain to avoid taking Panadeine Forte, but found they “just weren’t doing anything”.

“When I found out the products are the same, I thought, you sods, how can you do that to us?” he told news.com.au outside court. “I feel like I was lied to and I feel like I was cheated out of my money.”

Mr Moore says he easily spent $500-$600 on Nurofen Specific Pain products over the past few years. “How can a drug company lie to people, make money off us, and the product doesn’t even work, it’s basically a headache tablet?” he said.

In the ACCC penalty hearing earlier this week, lawyers for the drug maker told the court that “rational” consumers would not think a pain-specific product was any more effective than a regular one.

Mr Moore hit out at that claim. “Then why would you put on the packet ‘Back Pain’, ‘Migraine’? The Back Pain packet is green, the Migraine packet is gold — they’re all glitzy to make you want to buy them,” he said.

“It’s lying. You don’t put a product out there with false advertising. It’s not about the money to me, it’s about the principle. There are too many people that lie in this world to make big bucks and their products do basically nothing.”

A Reckitt Benckiser spokeswoman told news.com.au the company “recognises the importance of the class action process”.

“To the extent that there may have been consumers misled by the Nurofen Specific Pain Range packaging and webpage, those consumers will be identified by the court process and to the extent they have suffered loss, will be appropriately compensated,” she said.

The case continues on June 7.

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