Forest Pharmaceuticals answer to reformulation of Armour.

[Heloise]

This is what I was told about the reformulations about Armour Thyroid.

It was reformulated once in 2008 and remains the same.

It is doubtful there are any old formulations on the market at this time.

The dextrose was removed at that time.

There is a slight increase of filler in the larger tablets because of the size of the pill but the active ingredient is equal to the dose of the pill.

I am waiting to see if there are any irregularities with a certain batch that I had questioned filled in February.

[Hidden]

I still think the pills are more crumbly now than directly after the reformulation. Thanks for getting this info from Forest.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

I think the last batches of Armour I got were even worse than those back in 2008-09. Crumbly, but taste absolutely horrible. Not a hint of sweetness, making me wonder if they removed the last traces of sugar. There is no way I'd be able to chew those pills up every day for the rest of my life...

Batches 1128100 (exp 01/16) and 1126982 (exp 01/16)

[Heloise in reply to Hidden]

What are you going to use instead, Anna? I'm thinking of going back to it.

[Hidden]

Either Erfa, or try Armour again, but swallow the pills instead of chewing them up. There is also Thai NDT which has been getting great reviews. It's much cheaper, too.

But quite a few people seem to be having success with Armour these days, which makes me think maybe they were somehow reformulated a second time, although the manufacturer denies it....it's pretty confusing, isn't ? I just cannot understand why the maker of Armour (apparently, now a company called Actavis) cannot go back to the original formula that so many patients loved...!

[Heloise in reply to Hidden]

I spoke to Forest Labs just before switching to Cynomel two years ago. They were supposed to get back to me after checking a batch. They never found anything wrong but did say they should be swallowed not chewed. I am glad to see that NDT is coming back into favor or being forced to. I hope it will be more available for anyone who prefers it to levo. Best wishes!

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to Heloise]

Forest are bound to say it should be swallowed - I doubt they have done any research at all on sub-lingual or chewed approaches. So they cannot say anything about them as techniques.

It would be good to see even some small-scale research on sub-lingual and chewing. It needs to be looked at.

[Heloise in reply to helvella]

Well, that was two years ago but don't you think when manufacturing they would determine which is the best way to use their product? They may have other priorities like shelf life of course. I'd rather swallow and be done with it.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to Heloise]

No - I don't think I see any advantage to Forest of doing that testing. And if there is no advantage, they won't do it. They (and their forerunners as manufacturers of Armour Thyroid) haven't done the testing in over a century! (As far as we know. Perhaps they did some testing and the results were not in their commercial interests?)

I'd also suggest that any form of sub-lingual or chewing might be less reproducible than simple swallowing.