Researchers have just completed a study on the prices of various over-the-counter drugs and determined that brand medications cost about three times as much as non-branded products.
Shockingly enough, some drugstore-specific brand products cost even more than their branded equivalents.
There is a reason behind these price discrepancies.
Brand products are backed by companies that can afford to widely advertise their products in commercials to the public. In these ads, the companies claim that their drugs target a specific problem, like back or joint pain.
Unfortunately, not all of these claims are true.
While some drugs do have particular functions and advantages over others, it’s important to not be fooled by false promises. Nurofen Joint & Back Pain claimed that their product specifically targeted the user’s back pain. This commercial was actually taken down by the Advertising Standards Authority for its false claims.
Martin Lewis, founder of MoneySavingExpert.com, explains that the main difference among various branded drugs is found on the active and inactive ingredients labels. “[The active ingredient is] the stuff that does the job. If it’s the same, sticking with branded drugs doesn’t give extra aid to your health, it just hurts your wealth.”
Of all the information listed on a drugs’ packaging, the active and inactive ingredient lists are most telling. If brand, drugstore-brand, and generic products all contain the same active and inactive ingredients, all with the same dosage levels, then these three products will ultimately have the same effect on your body once you take them.
Next time you’re buying drugs at the drugstore, take care to not just look at the price tag and the fancy packaging – take another peek at the ingredients to see if you’re really getting the product you want.
