MoneySaving Poll: Do you buy brand name medicines? Eg, Nurofen or Ibuprofen?

Former_MSE_Sam_M

Poll started 7 June 2016

Do you buy brand name medicines? Eg, Nurofen or Ibuprofen?

Medicines come in all shapes and packaging, but often it’s the same active ingredient doing the job; see our Cut the Cost of Medicine guide.

So do you go for brand names (eg, Nurofen or Lemsip) or do you go for generic/own brands (eg, Ibuprofen or Superdrug Cold & Flu sachets)?

What is closest to your situation for the last few times you’ve bought medicines?

Click here to vote in the poll

Did you vote? Are you surprised at the results so far? Have your say below. To see the results from last time, click here.

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Thanks!


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spanglish

It's not quite so clear cut. I almost always buy generic OTC medicines but when it comes to prescription medication, experience has shown the branded medications often work much better than generics for me. I have to be very specific when requesting a prescription.

anita116

It makes me so cross when manufactures write on the packets that pain relief is targeted for specific problems e.g. back pain. This is complete and utter rubbish. Pain relief works on receptors in the brain so affects all areas regardless of what it says on the packet. The only time this is true is if it's something you're spraying on or rubbing in.

I always go for the cheapest with OTC medicines - the active ingredients are the same. If unsure, read the side of the packets and compare.

happyinflorida

I always try the cheapest and have found they are often better than branded products.

I've found Asda's own flu powders are the best, far better than Lemsip and a fraction of the price!

I've always been happy to try cheaper versions of any product in supermarkets and love it when I open something to see it's practically the same as the brand version but a fraction of the price!

Sauces are amazingly cheap when you go for the cheapest ones and Aldi are so cheap - I love that store. It really angers me now that I have learnt that Aldi make £millions in profit and they sell so much cheaper than the greedy main supermarkets like Tesco for example, it is so wrong of them to charge so much, just making profit out of a lot of poorer people, very bad of them.

jenniewb

What on earth went on with the 120 odd women over 30 who only buy brand named medication? Are they made of money or is there some other reasonable excuse? They can't all be obvious to the facts?

belle_de_jour

jenniewb wrote: »

What on earth went on with the 120 odd women over 30 who only buy brand named medication? Are they made of money or is there some other reasonable excuse? They can't all be obvious to the facts?

While the active ingredient will be the same whether it's branded or generic, the other ingredients can differ. I have had allergic reactions to prescribed generic drugs because of this.

With a few exceptions for specific generic OTC medications I tend to buy branded as I've never had a reaction to them.

PunchyMc

We buy cheap own brand antihistamines for ourselves: but our dog gets Piriton as it was recommended by the vets and has saved us a fortune in ear treatments for him!
There may be something with the same ingredients and effectiveness but frankly I'd rather pay the little extra than the vets bills we were paying when he got infections

HappyMJ

Generic all the way for me. The formulation is exactly the same. The only real difference is the packaging and the shape of the pill, tablet, capsule or caplet.

chrismbt

It is true, i.e. it has been shown by experiment, that branded products, where the patient sees the box, are more effective than generic. However, where the patient doesn't see the box, branded or generic are the same.

This is just the placebo effect.

Molillie

I haven't needed to buy anything for years, I did get some unbranded anti-histamines some time back, when I'd some particularly nasty insect bites. Do people keep things in? What about supplements? I do use them, and usually buy the cheapest I see, and wonder which are best.