Pharmacy Daily | ASMI finds RB in breach

Reckitt Benckiser has been ordered to pay a fine of $20,000 by the Australian Self-Medication Industry Complaints Panel, over complaints about claims made in advertising and promotion of RB’s Nuromol earlier this year. AFT Pharmaceuticals raised a formal complaint in May, and after the complaints process has been completed a final determination has been made, finding Reckitt Benckiser in breach of the ASMI Code of Practice in four instances. These included an advertorial in the Australian Journal of Pharmacy, an email from the RB Health Hub, a “Weekly Dose” from Blooms the Chemist and a Nuromol detail aid. AFT said it was concerned about claims that the efficacy of Nuromol, which is a combination of ibuprofen and paracetamol, was “greater than double dose of single actives”. A Reckitt Benckiser study found that although ibuprofen 200mg/paracetamol 500mg was significantly more effective over eight hours than paracetamol 1000mg, it was “not significantly different from ibuprofen 400mg,” and based on this information the ASMI panel found in favour of AFT. AFT also said a statement on the RB Health Hub which stated that “Nuromol with Synchro- Tech is the only paracetamol/ ibuprofen analgesic to provide more powerful pain relief than two tablets of a paracetamol/codeine combination” was inaccurate and misleading, because it “inferred that [AFT’s] Maxigesic would not have more powerful pain relief than paracetamol/codeine and that there is no data to support this claim”. The Panel ruled that, so far as RB is aware, Maxigesic had not been tested against two tablets of a paracetamol/codeine combination and so had failed to substantiate its claim. As well as being fined $5,000 for each of the “moderate breaches” found by the panel, Reckitt Bencikser was ordered to cease publication of any representations that ibuprofen in Nuromol with Synchro-Tech is absorbed faster into the bloodstream than if taken alone; and that Nuromol has greater efficacy than ibuprofen 400mg taken alone - until the claims can be supported by clinical evidence. All existing stocks of the offending detail aid were ordered to be destroyed, and the Blooms category manager was told to circulate a statement of correction. AFT said the outcome of the complaints process was a “significant result for AFT and Maxigesic” - to view the final determination see asmi.com.au.

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