FEATURES & INVESTIGATIONS
PAINKILLERS
Despite the boxes showing different ‘mg’
numbers and names, all three simply contain
a 200mg dose of fast-acting ibuprofen.
Nurofen Express is up to 2p cheaper per caplet
● 21p
▲22p
■23p
Targeted painkillers?
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Same pill, different price
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Are ‘fast-acting’
tablets worth a
premium price?
All painkillers contain
A an active ingredient(s)
– for example, paracetamol
which can be formulated in
different ways – and
non-active ingredients
(excipients). You’ll pay a
premium for formulations such
as arginine, lysine, and sodium
salts which attach to the
active ingredient to make the
painkiller fast-acting, or
fast-acting soluble versions
such as liquid-filled soft
capsules.
Research shows they’re
absorbed quicker but not if it
offers significantly quicker
pain relief or better long-term
pain relief. Some people who
take them experience good
pain relief, with less need to
take a repeat dose. But you’ll
have to decide whether the
possible benefit is worth the
extra cost.
Of course, most leading pharmacies
and supermarkets also sell generic
PHOTOGRAPHY: EUGENIO FRANCHI
You might think that Nurofen
Migraine Pain and Nurofen Tension
Headache caplets (left) would
target your migraine and tension
headaches respectively, but you’d
be wrong: ibuprofen can’t target
pain in specific body parts.
The products (Nurofen Migraine
Pain and Tension Headache) are
actually exactly the same as each
other and – available until recently
– Nurofen Express caplets (342mg
of fast-acting ibuprofen lysine). The
latter has now been superseded by
Nurofen Express 256mg sodium
ibuprofen, but all three still contain a
200mg dose of the active ingredient
ibuprofen, plus a type of salt to
speed up absorption (see boxout).
One of our experts said: ‘It’s a
waste of money to buy so-called
targeted painkillers, and potentially
dangerous as you might be misled
into taking a double dose, thinking
that they’re different medicines.’
versions of fast-acting ibuprofen,
at as little as a third of the cost
per tablet of Nurofen. They’re not
identical to the Nurofen tablets –
even though the active ingredients
are the same (342mg ibuprofen
lysine) – but they’re often identical
to each other once you look past the
brand, packaging claims and prices.
We found 14 products, some
shown below, that are all identical to
each other, ranging from 8p a tablet
at Wilko to 20p per tablet at Boots
and Superdrug. They are variously
sold as ‘migraine relief’, ‘period pain
relief’, ‘express pain relief’ and ‘rapid
pain relief, but are actually made at
the same production site (labs) to
exactly the same formulation.
If you examine the fine print, you’ll
find all these products carry the same
marketing authorisation (product
licence/PL) number. This means they
are the same, but the licence allows
it to be sold under different names.
You can ignore targeted marketing
if you’re clear you’re taking the right
ingredient and dose: a man taking
Feminax Express – marketed for
period pain – will simply be getting
342mg of ibuprofen lysine!
Exactly the same
painkillers cost as
little as 8p each at
Wilko, compared
with 20p at Boots
and Superdrug
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●20p
▲19p
■ 11p
◆ 8p
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2 6 W H I C H ? JA N UA RY 2 0 1 6
W H I C H .C O.U K