With many people looking for medicines in supermarkets, the Money Saving Expert has shared a way to pay less and save money.
Martin Lewis has shared a handy way shoppers can pay less for medication when shopping at a pharmacy or supermarket. With prices of medicines rising over the years, the money saving expert has revealed a ‘hidden’ code that Brits need to look out for.
With many medicines claiming to do the same thing, it can be hard for shoppers to choose which tablets will work best for them. And with branded items receiving more advertisement, quite a few of us choose them over cheaper alternatives.
However, the MoneySavingExpert website has revealed that people could be paying half the price if they checked the ingredients rather than the brand name. The website advises: “It’s important to realise you can often save big by buying an identical pill, just in different packaging. Some tablets are half the price of their doppelgangers.”
In order to make sure you aren’t overspending on your non-prescription medication, which is usually sourced for cold, flu, allergies or pain relief, shoppers are advised to look out for a nine-digit identification code on the packaging, reports the Express.
The money saving tool’s guidance states: “How to spot which tablets are identical. Check the ‘PL number’ on the packet. It’s a unique licence number given to a particular drug made by a particular manufacturer.”
This ‘hidden’ code is usually found under the distributor’s information on the back or side of medicine packets. Martin Lewis also highlighted the nine-digit code in a variety of TV shows.
In a previous appearance on This Morning, he shared that branded doesn’t always guarantee that you are getting the best. He explained: “If they have an identical PL code, which is on the back of the packet, they are the same tablet.
“Not the same active ingredient—the same tablet. “Big pharmaceutical companies spend millions of pounds promoting this, ‘Go with the name you know.’ And that’s just baloney in most cases.”
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To prove his point he compared a £1.85 product with a branded £4.99 medicine, both of which had the same PL code. He added: “This happens all over the place”.
Many people on social media were blown away by this money saving tip, with the clip racking up over 2,000 likes when it was uploaded on Facebook.
Thousands of people also flooded the comments section, with one person who worked in a pharmacy explaining that most shoppers wouldn’t listen when they gave this advice.
They wrote: “I work in a well-known pharmacy. We tell people of the price difference in pain meds and hay fever stuff mostly, and it’s amazing how many people dare not buy the cheaper own-brand stuff. It can make about £12 difference in some cases. Branding really works.”
With another person adding: “I worked in a pharmacy for years trying to get people to buy the store’s own cheaper brand, but most customers would say only the branded medicines worked!!”
A third also shared that they have not taken on Lewis’ advice, writing: “Used to buy expensive hayfever tablets for my daughter. Now buy Wilkinson’s own, same PL code and only 89p a box.”
This was followed by another social media user adding: “I’m always baffled when people buy expensive branded paracetamol or ibuprofen. let’s hope more people take heed of this video and start buying medicines more sensibly.”




