As Good As The Branded Ones, If You Believe (Tesco Ibuprofen)

Member Name: MagdaDH

Product:	Tesco Ibuprofen
Date:	14/05/09 (48 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: massively cheaper than branded ibuprofen & objectively identical

Disadvantages: less placebo effect

Ibuprofen is non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) and used as an painkiller, especially when there is also an inflammatory component (eg arthritis or joint pain in general) , also to fight fever.

It's is marketed under several brand names (Nurofen being probably the most popular in the UK) and also as a generic or own-brand version.

The price differentials are huge: Tesco Ibuprofen costs 2p per 200mg tablet (either a caplet or a standard tablet) while Naurofen costs around 12p per tablet. Therein lies the power of branding.

I have never believed in the superiority of branded tablets over generics and have been a very happy user of generic Ibuprofen (including Tesco one) for many years and as I use painkillers mostly for joint/muscle pain and occasionally fever, I prefer ibuprofen to paracetamol.

This review is not about ibuprofen as such but about Tesco ibuprofen though. And herein lies the crux: objectively speaking, there is absolutely no difference between branded and own brand or generic versions of those drugs. They contain the same amount of the same active ingredient and they do exactly the same things. A "format" might make a difference (e.g. the size of the tablet, smoothness of coating etc) for some people, but I was never fussy about such things, so all that matters is the 200g of the active ingredient that works. For me, Tesco version is as good as a branded Neurofen.

So, are the people who buy branded versions just plain silly? Not necessarily. Placebo effect is a very powerful one, and there is a substantial amount of research that shows that more expensive, branded medicines in attractive, recognisable packaging actually work better than generic plain-packaged ones, at least for people who believe (or even just "feel") they do. Even colour of the tablets has an influence!

If you yourself have doubts whether a 2p tablet can be as effective as a 12p tablet, you would be probably better off sticking to the branded ones: they WILL work better for you, regardless of the fact that the chemical content is exactly the same.

Summary: same drug, different packet