Join in the class action against Johnson and Johnson for selling ineffective cold and flu treatments for a payout?

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  fatboyj on 14/02/2025 - 08:37

  Just rummaged through my medicine cupboard(cardboard box under bed) and found a codral relief best before 2014. I recall now distinctly after my first dose my hair fell out and I put on a middle age spread, eyesight got blurry and spicey food no longer agreed with me. I'm so in.

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    Alan6984 on 14/02/2025 - 14:03

    I recall now distinctly after my first dose my hair fell out and I put on a middle age spread, eyesight got blurry and spicey food no longer agreed with me

    Whoooaaaa! I have experienced the same symptoms in the last ten plus years.

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  CheapAzChips on 15/02/2025 - 07:57

  I am so into this. The whole switch from Pseudoephedrine to Phenylephrine years ago was such a crock. The former is amazing, the latter is completely useless, and I'm glad they've finally proven that conclusively, as it was my experience as well.

  However, note that it looks like you don't have to do anything right now to participate and potentially get a payout:

  It is intended that the class action will be run on an “opt-out” basis, which means that all affected individuals are included in the class action unless they choose to “opt-out”. You do not need to enter into a funding agreement to participate in the class action, but we invite you to register your interest now.

  So they'll fight the legal battle for you and if they win, they'll put out a call for public to come forward (most likely you will need some proof of purchase, so yeah, hold onto those old packets/receipts) for compensation.

  The only thing you're signing up for right now is to be kept in the loop.

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    Jexla on 15/02/2025 - 21:13

    The government made Pseduo illegal to sell, so why would it be the manufacturers fault?

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      CheapAzChips on 15/02/2025 - 22:23

      It's illegal to make representations about your product that are untrue, and that's exactly what they did. They replaced the (yes, then made illegal without prescription) pseudo with (unrestricted, but also completely ineffective) phenyl, but continued to claim the over the counter meds did the same job when clearly they didn't.

      In other words, rather than give up a lucrative market segment when the key ingredient was restricted, they swapped it out for a placebo with a similar-sounding name and kept selling. That is 100% their fault.

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        Jexla on 16/02/2025 - 10:05

        So the argument is it does literally nothing, not that it's less effective? If true then fair enough!

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          CheapAzChips on 16/02/2025 - 15:16

          @Jexla: Judge for yourself:

          phenylephrine … works no better than a placebo in treating cold and allergy symptoms
          (source: Yale School of Medicine)

          … and …

          phenylephrine is a dud … when taken orally—no better than a sugar pill
          (source: Boston University)

          And more technical if you're interested:

          Phenylephrine, at the FDA-approved dose of 10 mg for adults, is unlikely to provide relief of nasal congestion. It has poor oral bioavailability because of extensive first-pass metabolism in the gut and liver. Only 38% of the dose reaches the systemic circulation, compared with 90% of a pseudoephedrine dose. Moreover, in a randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study of 3 oral decongestants in 20 patients with chronic nasal stuffiness, phenylephrine was no more effective than placebo in reducing nasal airway resistance
          (source: The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology)

          There will be better sources, those are just the first three that I Googled.

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            Jexla on 16/02/2025 - 16:45

            @CheapAzChips: Seeing this now, I'm convinced I watched something on this in the recent past.

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  spam on 13/02/2025 - 18:08

  Saw the article on lunch time. So how does this work? It days no win no pay but do you get to pay if they win? Or cut the compensation or something? I did buy some codral but have since gone from the cupboard

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    inthiseconomy on 13/02/2025 - 19:32

    If they win, they get costs reimbursed + commission taken out of the payout. You get part of what's left.

    You don't have to do anything, they'll do it anyway, and if they win you'll be able to fill out a form or something to get some money from the pool of the payout. You'd probably have to prove you bought it though.

    Filling out the form that's on their website now only updates you about how it's going.

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  kiwical on 13/02/2025 - 19:09

  Yes apparently. You might remember a similar class action against ANZ recently. I've heard someone got $2.78 from that lol
  I guess the only people that actually get rich from these things is lawyers………….

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    Jexla on 13/02/2025 - 20:47

    They certainly don't do it for you lol

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    fdkflanelkfnw on 15/02/2025 - 15:51

    I was one of those people. I'm just happy they had to pay me rather than getting paid.

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  justaddwater on 13/02/2025 - 19:56

  How do you prove you bought it?

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    kiwical on 14/02/2025 - 07:54

    I didn't see any way that you need to prove you have it. Could just be an honesty thing. But if you do have some in the cupboard, or a receipt, might be best to hold onto that.

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