Is this sleep aid a rip-off?

While perusing the drug store, I noticed a rather strange pricing scheme.

On the one hand, there was sleep aid that sold for $5.

On the other, was allergy medicine that sold for $2.50.

So what’s the catch? The interesting thing is both products were essentially the same medicines.

A closer look at the packaging reveals both products use 25 mg diphenhydramine as their active ingredient. Diphenhydramine is more commonly known under the trade name Benadryl, an allergy medicine that happens to cause drowsiness.

In other words, it appears to be the same medicine, repackaged and relabeled, and sold at different prices.

I should note there is one noticeable difference between allergy relief and sleep aid: the dosage timing. The NIH says to take diphenhydramine every 4 to 6 hours for allergy relief versus to take it 30 minutes before bedtime for sleep aid.

Other than that, I could not find any differences between the two products. I did, however, come across a reddit conversation which asked the same question, so other people are curious about this too.

It sounds like another one of those marketing games, where people who want sleep aid are somehow priced at a higher point.

What do you think is going on?



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  • Christina

    That happens a lot with other packaging too.. I’m not sure about the price differences, but I know I’ve looked at different medicines labeled different things, sometimes in the same brand, and they have the same ingredients. Maybe the sleep aid is more expensive because there are less “sleep aid” products to compare to? If you’re buying allergy medicine, there’s dozens of other brands and products you could look at, so it’d quickly become obvious it was overpriced.

    (Although I’ve experienced the same thing with brands – Claritin is ridiculously expensive, but generic allergy medicine is way cheaper – despite the fact that they both contain exactly the same amount of loratadine)

  • Brendan

    Is it possible that the non-active ingredients are different, causing your stomach to break them down at different rates?

  • http://www.mindyourdecisions.com/blog/ Presh Talwalkar

    Thanks Christina, I think it probably happens in other areas too.

    And to Brendan, if I were in charge, an ingredient that affected absorption DOES something and would thus be considered an active ingredient. But you’re right. The powers that be deem an ingredient that influences delivery of the drug is inactive. Here’s the FDA definition.

  • Joon

    This may just be my imagination, but in my experience brand name Claritin D does work better than the generic. I actually carry both at home and only use Claritin when my allergies are really really bad. Again, I could just be crazy.

    Can we get an industry expert to weigh in?

  • Trevor

    I noticed in that reddit article that someone mentioned the same thing about Mucinex, definitely something I want to look into more.

    Joon, it could just be the placebo effect, if I think a medicine is better it usually works better for me too ha ha.

  • Christina

    I found an article that addresses this, at least generic vs. brand name drugs

    http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=46204

  • Christina

    And this:

    http://www.medicarehmo.com/infxm85.pdf

    It seems like most sources say that generic and brand name usually have the same effects

  • prakruthi

    Pharmaecutical companies often spend billions in Research and Development of a drug and clinical trials for a drug to be released into the market. On the other hand generic drugs do not have to undertake that investment as they use reverse engineering to dtermine the composition of the drug. They do not need to incur expenditure in relation to R&D. In countries, like the US with strong IP laws, a generic version of a branded drug cannot be manufactured until the brnaded drug goes off patent.





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