Reckitt Benckiser currently markets its New Zealand Nurofen products in different ranges, claimed to treat different types of pain.

Nurofen manufacturer Reckitt Benckiser will stop marketing pills with identical active ingredients as targeting migraine, period and back pain after an agreement with the Commerce Commission.

The commission is investigating concerns that the current packaging, which markets the product in different specific pain ranges, is misleading and deceptive.

This follows a Australian Federal Court decision that found each product had exactly the same active ingredient - 342 milligrams of ibuprofen lysine - and that none were any better at treating one type of pain than other products in the range.

Reckitt Benckiser Australia admitted to the products breaching Australian Consumer Law.

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Reckitt Benckiser New Zealand has been co-operating with the commission following the Australian case.

From March 2016, no pain-specific Nurofen products in Australia and New Zealand can be supplied in their current packaging.

An arrangement is in place that will see the products being sold with amended labels that will disclose that the products are equally effective for other forms of pain.

In a statement Nurofen said it "regrets that its packaging may have been misleading, as this was never the intention".

It said the specific-pain products were launched to help shoppers where the support of a healthcare professional was unavailable.

The commission's investigation is expected to finish in early 2016 and its concerns were focused on representations made on packaging, not about the safety of the product.



