ACCC to appeal Reckitt Benckiser's $1.7m fine for misleading on Nurofen

Arvind Hickman
By Arvind Hickman | 23 May 2016
 
All of these products have the same active ingredient - ibuprofen lysine 342mg - as normal Nurofen, but were sold at much higher price points.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is appealing a Federal Court ruling that Reckitt Benckiser pay $1.7 million for misleading marketing of Nurofen because the penalty is not large enough.

Last December, the court found the pharmaceutical company had engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct by marketing Nurofen Specific Pain products as formulated to treat different types of pain - back, period, migraine and tension headaches - when each product contained the same active ingredient, ibuprofen lysine 342mg.

In April, the court ruled Reckitt Benckiser pay a penalty of $1.7 million, but the ACCC wants the company to pay at least $6 million to send a stronger deterrence message. 

“The ACCC will submit to the Full Court of the Federal Court that $1.7 million in penalties imposed on a company the size of Reckitt Benckiser does not act as an adequate deterrent and might be viewed as simply a cost of doing business,” ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said.

“This is particularly the case when the judge found that Reckitt Benckiser had made many millions in profits from sales of 5.9 million units of these products at around 8,500 outlets during the relevant period.”

In a statement about the appeal, a Reckitt Benckiser spokesperson said: "Nurofen acknowledges that the ACCC has lodged an appeal in relation to the penalty decision of the Federal Court. Nurofen is carefully considering the appeal with its legal advisers.” 

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