Who makes Armour?

[helvella]

Many here would answer, without hesitation, “Forest”. But that might no longer be quite the full picture.

Actavis, the highly acquisitive Dublin-based drugs maker, has agreed to buy New York’s Forest Laboratories for $25bn, its biggest purchase to date....

ft.com/cms/s/0/d6ae6cf4-989...

Actavis to buy Forest Labs for $25bn

bbc.co.uk/news/business-262...

Actavis buys speciality drugmaker Forest Labs for $25bn

Drugs including central nervous system disorder treatments will boost Actavis' speciality pharmaceuticals portfolio

theguardian.com/business/20...

Actavis Buying Armour Thyroid Maker Forest Laboratories

By Mary ShomonFebruary 23, 2014

thyroid.about.com/b/2014/02...

It is absolutely not known if this will have ANY impact on Armour. Your guess is as good as mine!

Rod

[Hidden]

Do Actavis already make any type of Levo?

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/treatm...

oh dear

[helvella in reply to Hidden]

The amount of money is staggering - so maybe someone sees some profit to be made from Armour (along with everything else Forest make)?

Rod

[Afaghieh in reply to Hidden]

Hi spareribs Yes, my levo is by Activas packed in Barnstaple. Almost all my proscriptions are activas products.

[Clutter]

Wonder if Actavis will apply to have Armour licensed for prescription in UK?

[helvella in reply to Clutter]

The thought certainly crossed my mind, but their projections of sales would surely be the deciding factor. If insufficient patients would be prescribed it, then maybe not? After all, it is not even licensed in the conventional sense in the USA - relying on grandfathering rights.

I am not familiar with how things are going to work, but if there is a possibility of it achieving a European license, then that might make more sense. One application, one set of costs and (potentially) made available in most countries of the EU - certainly sounds a better approach than 28 separate applications, doesn't it?

Rod

[Clutter in reply to helvella]

A European license makes a lot of sense. Fingers crossed

[Hidden]

'there are nuts in the factory where this product is made, there may be traces of nuts in these cakes/bread/biscuit...'

following this do you think it possible I may soon have traces of NDT in my levothyroxine - I do hope so

[helvella in reply to Hidden]

According to the standards applied in the USA (and, I think, here), levothyroxine products containing, say, 100mcg of levothyroxine could contain up to 1mcg of liothyronine. This would be as a breakdown product/impurity and could vary at least from batch to batch.

Rod

[Hidden in reply to helvella]

that's interesting to know... I'd like to try a different ratio and will be looking for a higher liothyronine content - sadly I doubt that the purchase of this factory will make this process any easier to change from T4 only with my GP.

[Clarebear]

Hope they don't decide to cease production

[jaxnbreeze]

I think they will either stop production or they have realized that there is a market for NDT and will make it available on presricption for everybody which would be very good news. Perhaps all the comments re. NDT over the years have not been ignored after all.

[helvella in reply to jaxnbreeze]

I can see no obvious reason for Actavis to spend $25 billion then turn off one of the income streams that justified the price! If they do not wish to continue with Armour as a product, I'd expect them to flog it off rather than close it down.

Actavis cannot make a product available on a UK prescription.

The most they could do is apply for a license in the UK - which itself is a costly thing to do. Then it could be somewhat easier for doctors to prescribe it, especially if the costs reduced. This could backfire if the various bodies in the UK put up some sort of "don't prescribe Armour" protest. Or the cost could be so high that it will still not get prescribed.

Rod

[waveylines]

Maybe they will go down the same route that Erfa did and get it fully licensed -this will put paid to the argument that it hasn't been 'regulated as other pharmaceutical medicines are' that we hear so often as to why we can't have it. A pharmacist that supplies me with Erfa in the UK was really unsure about Erfa until I explained that Erfa had been through the same processes as other synthetic medicines in Canada and had had to comply with the same standards. He hadn't realised this but having done some reading around it he is now a convert of Erfa!

[helvella in reply to waveylines]

So long as there are no slip ups on the way, then I agree that would be a good thing. (Mind, might put pressure on RLC to do the same with their products. Hope that would also go through without any problems.)

I guess if Forest/Actavis and RLC think full licensing will be required sometime, they might as well get on with it. On the other hand, if they think they can continue as is for many more years, they might not wish to stir the issue.

Rod

[afonog]

Hi' I'm new to this site which has provided some amazing info. I've seen quite a bit about Armour and I was wondering what exactly or who exactly it is/they are. Are they a really good thyroxine manufactuer or something else? I'm struggling to get back to feeling great after 10 years on thyroxine and this group has given me some really good info and the courage to go back to my docs with a list of points that need addressing o thank you all.

[HarryE in reply to afonog]

Hi there, armour is a brand of natural dessicated thyroid medication. Others include erfa, naturethroid, westhroid, thyroid-s etc

[helvella in reply to afonog]

The answers to many medicine questions may be found here:

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/treatm...

Desiccated thyroid is, basically, pig thyroid (from the normal food chain), cleaned up, dried, powdered, standardised and formed into tablets with a few added ingredients.

Desiccated thyroid contains T4 (levothyroxine) and T3. (People go on about it also containing T2, T1 and calcitonin but I am not convinced of the relevance or quantities.)

The Armour make is not licensed. In the USA it has been 'grandfathered' in and allowed to be sold. Erfa is licensed in Canada. No desiccated thyroid has been licensed in the UK since, if I remember correctly, since the early 1980s.

Rod

[Hidden]

It's been a while since these posts were written, but it seems that if anything, Armour is working even less well now than after the unappreciated 2009 reformulation by Forest...it also seems to have tripled in price in recent months

My doctor said many of her patients can no longer afford Armour, and have switched to Erfa which is about half the cost of Armour in Belgium (maybe also because Erfa is available in 500 ct bottles).

Why would it be so difficult for Actavis to go back to the original formula which patients all over the world loved and did really well on for decades?! I would be willing to pay more for a drug that really worked, like old Armour, but I am definitely not willing to pay that much for something of inferior quality.

I have not been able to find any posts, here or elsewhere, where someone claims doing BETTER on Armour since Actavis bought Forest.