Branded medication is a rip off!

[EveryDayIsADuvetDay]

I think I have a cold, I don't usually bother, but decided to but some day and night tablets to shift it quickly.
Looked online - brand leaders were £7-£8 in boots/super drug etc, and their own brands about half that.
I decided to look in Tesco because it was closer - £1.75, exactly the same active ingredients.

People must be crazy to spend three to four tines as much for the branded ones! (and TBH I'd probably have got much the same effect from paracetamol)

YABU - you get what you pay for, stick to the brand leaders
YANBU - save cash and go for the supermarket clones

I work in a pharmacy and we all use the unbranded versions ;)

Yanbu. I love unbranded food also

You’re absolutely correct, abs anyone who claims lemsip/nurofen/etc are more effective than supermarket own brands are 100% experiencing a placebo effect

YANBU. Over-the-counter medicines are a textbook case of the power of marketing.

YANBU: I never buy branded medication. Total rip off. I find out the drug I need and get it as cheap as I can.

I have read you look at the product code and if they are the same it is same ingredients.

I'd agree but I used to work in a dispensary. Some patients would only be happy with a specific brand of their meds despite the increased cost to the NHS. I guess formulations may differ slightly?

YANBU it's bonkers!

Cheap medication only here

Whether it’s enough to justify paying for the price difference, I don’t know, but in theory branded pills do work better - the branding is part of the placebo effect. Even something like the colour of the pills or whether they’re capsules can make a difference to how effective they seem to be. 🤷‍♀️

And you've only just discovered this?

Sorry to slightly de rail the thread. BUT why is threadworm medication SO expensive? When DD was in nursery we all had to take the medication and I couldn't see an alternative to ( OVEX?)

I seem to remember Nurofen being removed from the shelves in Australia for being misleading as Nurofen headache, Nurofen Period pain, Nurofen muscle pain etc. all had the same active ingredient and couldn't actually target pain in a specific place.

branding is part of the placebo effect must be me being a skinflint! I'd just feel ripped off - and conversely virtuous that i felt better and had saved money. (although still not 100% convinced that paracetamol alone would have worked just as well )

The active ingredient is the same the branded versions you are paying for marketing and potentially different fillers/flavours/coatings but ultimately the active ingredient is what’s needed. Putting 2 paracetamol in some hot lemon squash is much cheaper than a lemsip and will do the same while saving you about £4.50

I love a good generic!

Ovex May still be on patent so no generic available yet. It may also just be too niche for anyone to have bothered to develop and licence a generic alternative.

I buy branded only if it is in another form. Gel capsules and not pills. That's the only difference for me

@1987qwerty

And you've only just discovered this?

I've always gone for Boots/Superdrug own brands in the past - I was genuinely surprised at the price gap between supermarket and chemist own brands.

@YouBoggleMyMind

YANBU: I never buy branded medication. Total rip off. I find out the drug I need and get it as cheap as I can.

Yep! The power of advertising, though. Plus many people think the brand is the drug and never look at the active ingredients.

I had a patient call up in a tizz the other day saying she had been prescribed the wrong contraceptive pill, had to get her to read out the drug names and amounts and explain about brand names. I mean, she was quite young so fair enough if you don't know this, especially as GPs often prescribe by brand.
That's doesn't help.

I always buy generic. They can be different though. The active ingredient may be the s

@Frickssake

Sorry to slightly de rail the thread. BUT why is threadworm medication SO expensive? When DD was in nursery we all had to take the medication and I couldn't see an alternative to ( OVEX?)

You can get the tablet form (mebendazole) but maybe not the liquid for infants, I once bulk bought a load of generic tablets on ebay after several thread worm infestations!

May be the same but the additional ingredients can change the bioavailability

I inject a medication weekly, at no cost to myself. It originally cost £450 a shot. After the patent expired a bio similar was created for £150. The original medication then reduced to £200 a shot. Madness as it was the same and had an identical effect

I always buy unbranded pain relief, 16 ibuprofen is 40p or something and nurofen is ££!

Ridiculous.

My FIL will not take unbranded medication even though he knows full well they're the same.

I think part of the problem though is his dyslexia. He knows for certain what's in the branded stuff because it's widely marketed, but he doesn't want to chance the unbranded stuff.

He once had a panic attack in a pharmacy trying to read Oxymetazoline and Xylometazoline, even though the pharmacist said they do the same thing.

must be me being a skinflint! I'd just feel ripped off - and conversely virtuous that i felt better and had saved money. (although still not 100% convinced that paracetamol alone would have worked just as well

Funnily enough I’ve just googled it and found a study that showed no difference between the branded and generic non-placebo painkillers — although there was a difference between the branded and generic placebos, so idk, maybe I’m talking bollocks. Then again, and especially with headaches, I can’t see how your perception of the pain would make a huge difference.

Personally, I hate swallowing pills whole so I tend to pick up soluble Neurofen.