New Zealand fines pharmaceutical firm

A New Zealand court on Friday fined a pharmaceutical company, Reckitt Benckiser, for misleading consumers.

The court in Auckland fined 1.1 million New Zealand dollars ($799,000) after the firm admitted that between 2011 and 2015 it may have given misleading information on the nature, characteristics and suitability of a range of Nurofen products, according to the New Zealand Commerce Commission.

The Nurofen products in question were marketed separately as analgesics to treat migraine, back pain, menstrual pain and stress-induced headaches though they all contained the same active ingredient - 342 mg of ibuprofen lysine, Efe news reported.

The decision comes after a court in Australia in December upheld an appeal by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and revised the fine slapped on the company for misleading consumers, raising it from $1.3 million to $4.4 million.

 

In December 2015, Reckitt Benckiser was found guilty of misleading consumers by selling a range of Nurofen pain relief products targeted at specific ailments.

--IANS

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