If you've ever wandered into a high street store looking for something as simple as paracetamol then you'll know the array of products, packaging and, more importantly, prices that greet you. Choosing which is 'best' is a minefield but there is an easy trick that you can use when buying virtually any medicine.
The hack will show you exactly what you are buying and whether or not the product is the same as one of its competitors. What's more, you won't need a chemistry degree to use it.
Tesco, Asda, Sainsbuyr's, Boots... in fact anywhere that medicines are sold are likely to be selling identical products that are packaged and priced differently. And it's not just paracetamol, hayfever tablets, cold remedies... its across items.
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TikTok famous medic, Dr Karanr, revealed the easy way to compare products. The doctor advises "whenever you buy medication, make sure you look at the PL number". He said: "This is a unique product licence number".
He continued: "If you spot two different packets with the same PL numbers, even if the packaging is completely different, and one is branded and one is not branded, the active ingredient, the formulation and the product is exactly the same. "
Continuing in the video, he went on to explain that "when a company develops a drug, it is given the unique rights to sell it for a number of years. But once that term ends any company can make it."
Pictured in the video were items that included a box of Boots branded Ibuprofen caplets, and a packet of Sudafed. Although Dr Karanr was not comparing the two.
TikTok fans were quick to reply to the post. One said: "Super helpful, thanks". Another added: "I have been saying this to my friends [and] family they still don’t believe it extra £ just for packaging". A third agreed: "You tell people and they'll still buy the brand stuff, crazy world we live in."
The comments continued: "Interesting. You learn something new every day!". Another said: "Always buy the generic version" while someone else added: "As a pharmacy tech for over 16 years I can confirm he is correct".
As an example, on the Boots website, paracetamol ranges in price from 49p for 16 own brand 500mg tablets to £1.69 for the same amount of some of the most expensive packets of branded paracetamol.
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