It’s time for a drugs bust to save you money
DRUG companies spend millions promoting ‘only-usethe-name-you-know’ messages... but it’s often marketing baloney.
Worse still, it hits people’s pockets unnecessarily, many are paying six times over the odds. Here’s my guide to not getting suckered into buying expensive medications.
1
LOOK AT THE ACTIVE INGREDIENT – THAT’S WHAT MATTERS
IT’S the medicine’s ‘active’ ingredient that does the business. So look on the pack to see what that is, and buy the same generic version, rather than the branded one, for less (if you’ve certain allergies check the other ingredients too).
For example, standard 200mg Nurofen costs around £1.90 (16 tablets), yet you can get ibuprofen – the same active ingredient – for as little as 30p in Asda (also 16 tablets).
2
CHECK THE PL CODE
WHILE the active
ingredient is what does the business, there can be other differences, such as delivery mechanism for quick delivery.
Even then, often inside the packaging tablets are INDENTICAL. On the side of the pack you’ll see a product number (PL) – this is a unique licence number given exclusively to a particular drug made by a particular manufacturer (eg, PL 12063/0104 is a cold and flu remedy). If two have the same number, it’s the exact same product. It has the same active ingredient AND the same formulation.
For example, Beechams Ultra All In One Hot Lemon Menthol Powder (10 sachets) is currently £4.99 in Boots, but it’s £1.85 for Wilko’s own Flu Max All In One (10 sachets).
Both have the same active ADVERTISING FEATURE YOU CAN TWEET ME @MARTINLEWIS
ingredients (paracetamol, phenylephrine and guaifenesin) and check the side of the pack and you’ll see the same code PL 12063/0104.
3
TARGETED PAIN KILLERS ARE OFTEN JUST SPIN
WHEN you see a painkiller is targeted at “headaches”, “period pain relief” or “back pain” on the box – it’s a clever way of getting you to buy a branded product rather than the cheaper generic.
For example, Panadol Extra Advance and Panadol Period Pain, both have the same 500mg of paracetamol as the active ingredient, and both have PL number 44673/0078 – they’re the same thing, just in a different packet.
This isn’t breaking a rule, medicines are allowed to have ‘informative’ names on the packet, to ‘help you choose the product you need’, but be vigilant.
4
HAY FEVER SAVINGS ARE NOTHING TO SNEEZE AT
SLASH the cost of antihistamine tablets by again looking for the active ingredient, and going for the non-branded tablets.
The Piriteze brand (active ingredient cetirizine hydrochloride) and Clarityn (active ingredient loratadine) both are sold for around £7 for a pack of 30, yet generic versions can be less than £2.
■ Martin Lewis is founder and chair of MoneySavingExpert. com. Get his free Money Tips weekly email, at moneysaving expert.com/latesttip.