Levothyroxine brands: How many different brands... - Thyroid UK

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Levothyroxine brands

Maggiemay12 profile image
17 Replies

How many different brands is there off levo  , I take the Almus one and I find I am having problems with it ,like sinus and headache now I have up my medicine , 

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Maggiemay12 profile image
Maggiemay12
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17 Replies
Pastille profile image
Pastille

I take Actavis and Wockhardt. Have heard of more brands but can't remember the names sorry

Clutter profile image
Clutter

Maggiemay12,

There are 3 brands in the UK, Mercury Pharma 25, 50 & 100mcg, Actavis 50 & 100mcg, and Wockhardt 25mcg.  Almus is Actavis repackaged for Boots and Lloyds.

looselywoven profile image
looselywoven in reply toClutter

Aha!  I've tried Activas - terrible headaches.  Mercury Pharma - pretty good but bad joint pains.  So I rang around local pharmacies to try and find another brand. One stocked Almus so I got that - terrible headaches. The worst thing is that I explained to the pharmacist that I got headaches from Activas and they still let me have it. Very annoying.

Maggiemay12 profile image
Maggiemay12 in reply tolooselywoven

I am same ,don't know what to try ,had the Mercury one last night for first time and thumping headache and feeling shattered ,don't know what I'm going to do now 

Maggiemay12 profile image
Maggiemay12 in reply toClutter

Have been offered Teva brand but never heard off this one .

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministrator in reply toMaggiemay12

Teva was withdrawn from the market several years ago. The company failed to keep to the terms of their Product Licence and used an inactive ingredient (an excipient) which was not quite the same as it had been. This affected absorption so they delivered less than their claimed potency.

One licence was withdrawn by the MHRA and the company removed themselves from the levothyroxine market in the UK.

(This did NOT affect their 25 microgram product which had always been MercuryPharma Eltroxin packaged in Teva livery.)

Almus is Actavis packaged for Boots' subsidiary Almus. You tend to see it in Boots but not often elsewhere.

Rita-D profile image
Rita-D

I think Mercury Pharma has stopped being manufactured.  I was OKish on this, but can't get it from Lloyds Pharmacy, Asda, or Boots.  Looked it up and it was stopped recently, I think in 2014, due to Government cutbacks on funding for thyroid treatment.  I think the pharmacies are using up old stock!!  This is why I've switched to NDT.

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministrator in reply toRita-D

I rather suspect that we would have heard if MercuryPharma levothyroxine had disappeared from the market. Especially if they stopped manufacture two years ago.

Am wondering where you saw that it was stopped.

(This is quite a different issue to MercuryPharma withdrawing their product packaged under the Eltroxin brand in the UK - but supplying it to Ireland.)

Lloyds and Boots have a financial interest in supplying Actavis (even if branded Almus or Lloyds).

Rita-D profile image
Rita-D in reply tohelvella

You mentioned a shortage in a post 3 months ago and I've seen that they let their license expire on the internet, but can't find it now.  My pharmacist told me this at the beginning of the year.   The government have reduced the price that they will pay for the drug, so Mercury Pharma have stopped manufacturing it.  That's what my pharmacist told me.  Here's the link to the site that says there's been a shortage.amcolimited.com/news/levoth...

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministrator in reply toRita-D

That link was posted two years ago. Click on the More link at the bottom - the PDF is dated 10th April 2014.

It is very specifically saying that the Product Licences under which MercuryPharma Levothyroxine in 50mcg and 100mcg dosages were being produced will no longer be used. Instead, they will be making them under the same Product Licences as they were using for the MercuryPharma Eltroxin.

It absolutely does NOT say that they are withdrawing all of their levothyroxine products.

I did write a post asking if people were having trouble but got very few responses. I'd have expected far more if they really had withdrawn it.

However, I have no inside knowledge of what MercuryPharma have done or intend to do. So we will just have to see in  the fullness of time! :-)

Maggiemay12 profile image
Maggiemay12 in reply tohelvella

Any idea what I can try now that mercury and the wockhardt give me bad headaches and the Almus brand doesn't seem to be agreeing with me but not as bad as the first two , 

looselywoven profile image
looselywoven in reply toMaggiemay12

I gave up to them and switched to NDT - my doctor doesn't know it yet :D

mandys profile image
mandys in reply tolooselywoven

where do you get your NDT from, please could you PM?

Happy-go-lucky profile image
Happy-go-lucky in reply tohelvella

I asked for Mercury pharma as I was getting headaches and dizziness, spaced out and anxiety. So when I order each month I say the brand too x

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministrator in reply toHappy-go-lucky

Many pharmacies will put a note on their system to dispense the make you prefer. If one pharmacy won't do that, go to another.

mandys profile image
mandys

wow interesting about Mercury Pharma..... Im on 75 levo so get 50 and 25 packets.  My regular chemist ALWAYS give me mercury (ive specified this) today they only had 25 mercury and 50 actavis..... will have to wait  to see if this affects me, their response was that's all we had been given from the delivery.... maybe a shortage??

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministrator in reply tomandys

A oft-repeated story - we keep hearing of supply issues but very often they are confined to one chain, or one distributor, or even one region of the country.

If there really is a shortage, please post! We want to know as soon as possible. That applies whether you are a pharmaceutical company, a distributor, a pharmacist, a patient, a delivery driver, or what most of us are, patients.

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