Good Afternoon everyone, I have a question hopefully one of you may be able to answer. With the cost of everything constantly increasing most of us probably know that big-brand medicines often contain the same active ingredients as cheaper brands and some supermarket/chemist versions are identical apart from the box it comes in.
My question is can anyone point me in the direction of a price comparison website for OTC Medication i.e. the Branded version/price and then the Chemist/Supermarket alternative/price?
Have a lovely day everyone
Joseph x
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I don’t think there is one website, unfortunately, and it’s also not the easiest thing to do on websites generally; I’ve found the only ‘easy’ way to do it is to physically go into store and compare the boxes. If an own brand and a branded medication have the same PL code, also known as the market authorisation number, on the back of the box, then they’re the ones that are not just the same active ingredient, they’re actually exactly the same. A good example is beechams max strength lemon powder, which is nearly a fiver for 10 sachets, and the Wilko’s equivalent which costs £1.85: they have the same PL code, so they’re completely identical items apart from the packaging and the cost. Most websites don’t list the PL codes of their products, but you can find the PL code for any med on the medicines.org.uk professional entry (the SmPC) for that specific item. You can also usually find them in the PiL that comes with a med - I don’t know about other retailers, but Boots online often provide a link to a product information sheet, and the PL is usually there, although sometimes referred to as the reference. A PL code is usually 5 numbers followed by 4 numbers separated by a slash e.g.: 00063/0386 is the PL for nurofen branded ibuprofen 200mg tabs. Any other ibuprofen with the same code is identical just unbranded.
Edited to add: it would be great if someone did put a website together listing the identical items by PL code, but I’d imagine pharmaceutical companies would throw a fit.
This is so handy to know, thanks for the info Charlie x
With branded goods like sudafed the ingredients are the same as the generic items but with Sudafed itself you are paying for the fancy packaging and the marketing campaigns.
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