I only take pain killers in general when I feel it can't just get on without it, I have significant damage to my right knee and permanently were a support when in the woods. However the more sinister side to pain relief is what GPs charge for the same product I can get at ASDA for 13p, not that I have pay for prescribed medication as they are free in Scotland. It is also noted that a lot of the time GPs will only give you what the reps will give them a free pen for, £7.50 is way higher than Nurofen. I know I'm being cynical...
Ibuprofen versus Nurofen Prices
- Thread starter Joonsy
- Start date
As someone ex-pharmaceutical industry I can confirm what several people have said. They're the same.
The deal is this...
A pharma company comes up with a new idea, gets a patent for 5-10 years and has exclusive rights to it for that period.
They sell it as hard as they can to recoup development costs (c. $100M)
Patent expires, every pharma company can copy it.
The 'generic' companies (making tesco own brand etc) have to submit their products to exactly the same testing as the guys who invented it. (this bit was my job).
I only buy generics.
jay
The deal is this...
A pharma company comes up with a new idea, gets a patent for 5-10 years and has exclusive rights to it for that period.
They sell it as hard as they can to recoup development costs (c. $100M)
Patent expires, every pharma company can copy it.
The 'generic' companies (making tesco own brand etc) have to submit their products to exactly the same testing as the guys who invented it. (this bit was my job).
I only buy generics.
jay
I certainly stock up my FAKs with supermarket own brands and have never noticed any difference in performance from the named stuff
Yeah I know just me being cynical as always
, but the Pens from Reps dictating the brand thing is true.
Do you think that could be a parental pride deal?, "Only the best for my Child!" thing? If so there could be (and possibly already has) a interesting study to be made from that.
if you want to be truly cynical consider the following:-
the country is supposedly being swamped with fake meds. :-sometimes less of the vital ingredient, sometimes none at all or worst of all something else as a replacement. marketed as the real thing.
so if you were doing this would you brand your fake stuff as generic and take a 16p profit or pretend it is a well known brand and take the £2 profit?
So..... it may follow that by buying cheap generic you are reducing the risk of falling for a fake product?
just a thought!
ps nurse who always buys generic
the country is supposedly being swamped with fake meds. :-sometimes less of the vital ingredient, sometimes none at all or worst of all something else as a replacement. marketed as the real thing.
so if you were doing this would you brand your fake stuff as generic and take a 16p profit or pretend it is a well known brand and take the £2 profit?
So..... it may follow that by buying cheap generic you are reducing the risk of falling for a fake product?
just a thought!
ps nurse who always buys generic
Yeah I know just me being cynical as always
The whole reps taking clients out to dinner, rounds of golf, on away6 days etc. got banned a little while back - it was getting a bit out of hand though....
Boots own brands. You can get 60 and then they had a buy one get one free deal so 120 tablets for the same price as 7 or 14 priton cannot remember which.
midge_fodder your information is at least 10 yrs out of date. Most GPs only prescribe & do not dispense and don't make a penny out of what they prescribe. Its the chemist who usually dispenses the medication who makes a profit and if thats BOOTs they pay only 3% tax on it !
Most GPs no longer see drug reps and drug reps are banned from giving out pens.
The £ 7.50 prescription charge is a government tax, for some reason you are exempt if you live in Scotland or Wales
Sometimes £7.50 is a rip off if you are only given 16 ibuprofen - but most chemists would tell you to buy it if its cheaper. However quite often you are getting a deal with many medications costing a good deal more.
Most GPs try and prescribe generically to try and keep the NHS running. As has been pointed out certain pharmacuetical companies are more concerned about profit than the well being of patients or the NHS.
Most GPs no longer see drug reps and drug reps are banned from giving out pens.
The £ 7.50 prescription charge is a government tax, for some reason you are exempt if you live in Scotland or Wales
Sometimes £7.50 is a rip off if you are only given 16 ibuprofen - but most chemists would tell you to buy it if its cheaper. However quite often you are getting a deal with many medications costing a good deal more.
Most GPs try and prescribe generically to try and keep the NHS running. As has been pointed out certain pharmacuetical companies are more concerned about profit than the well being of patients or the NHS.
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I once worked a temp job for two weeks with a company that manufactured lights to mount above snow plows. (Once you mount one on a pick up truck, the original lights are blocked.) All the same parts, made by the same people, the only thing that changed was the packaging. They made them for all the store brands, name brands, what have you. If one company ordered a recall because some of them weren't wired right, every other company may as well do the same.
I know someone who worked for a company that made generic drugs. One day they would put the pink dye in the vats and the oblong pill press and one type of bottle on the conveyor belt, the next day the blue dye and the oval pill press and another type of bottle on the conveyor belt, the next day the yellow dye and the round pill press and another type of bottle on the conveyor belt. That it was all the same formulation of say, acetaminophen didn't matter. One was for the large chain of pharmacies, the other was for the name brand, the other was for a department stores own brand.
It's lovely to think there are dozens of say shampoo factories, or battery factories, but the truth is that often there are just one or two. They make products for end retailers. That it happens to be exactly the same product, isn't relevant. The end seller can charge what they like.
I know someone who worked for a company that made generic drugs. One day they would put the pink dye in the vats and the oblong pill press and one type of bottle on the conveyor belt, the next day the blue dye and the oval pill press and another type of bottle on the conveyor belt, the next day the yellow dye and the round pill press and another type of bottle on the conveyor belt. That it was all the same formulation of say, acetaminophen didn't matter. One was for the large chain of pharmacies, the other was for the name brand, the other was for a department stores own brand.
It's lovely to think there are dozens of say shampoo factories, or battery factories, but the truth is that often there are just one or two. They make products for end retailers. That it happens to be exactly the same product, isn't relevant. The end seller can charge what they like.
And yet when you get a prescription it will sometimes say "medically neccessary" for the name brand to prevent the pharmacist from filing it with the generics required by the insurance companies or government programs.
Brand name protection, target market, target price and brand image are important.
Remember the "Dasani" debacle, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dasani#United_Kingdom.
Happy trails...torc.
Remember the "Dasani" debacle, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dasani#United_Kingdom.
Happy trails...torc.
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... The "woodlore" comparison is hardly a realistic one
I'd say it was a completely realistic comparison. If you made a knife identical to a woodlore but charged a third the price for it some people would still hanker after the more expensive one, assuming there must be some reason why its three times the price. Its just human nature. Another analogy would be the audiophile that spends £50 a metre for his hi-fi speaker cable, insisting he can hear the difference over £5 a metre cable - human nature, nowt wrong with it, just the way it is when people have disposable income. I doubt Nurofen would have much of a market share in developing countries.
Elen Sentier
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Yay, good link. As someone "enjoying" a multitude of "conditions" stemming from rheumatoid arhritis over the past 30+ years I've (perforce) had to get to know drugs. There are some which really are better quality than others, as with the insulin I take for the diabetes (brought on by the steroids!), but many others are priced per hype; have had many discussions with doctor and specialists around this.
Small word of caution - which you likely know but I'll say anyway - pse take care with ibuprofen, it can wreck the stomach lining and has been known to make people (incl me) feel very weird.
Elen Sentier
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Normally I'd agree with you Corso, but as someone who suffers bouts of crippling arthritic pain, trust me, ibuprofen is a godsend at times, and I'm literally alive because of anti histamines. If you can find a way of stopping either need for pills I'll be a happy lady
I buy generics. Look for the chemical and if the generic is the same value as the 'brand', in this day and age of quality control, why pay such an enormous mark up?
cheers,
Toddy
Sorry to hear that - from fellow sufferer. I'm one of those who can't do ibuprofen so am on prescrip-only co-codamol - the stuff they give you after a big op
- on a daily basis. I'm glad you still manage to get out though, it's a bugger these damn conditions!Not sure if that was tongue in cheek - is there a smiley for that?
You are comparing two different things.
One knife is handmade by a craftsman - the other a mass produced product. Some people value craftmanship (or craftwomanship as applicable) and want to support the crafts.
With the tablets both are mass produced one is more expensive to pay for brand promotion.
Branded products are more likely to be counterfeit as there is more profit to be made....
Cheers
Bryan
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