Levothyroxine brands

[Maggiemay12]

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 , 

[Pastille]

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

[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 in reply to Clutter]

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 in reply to looselywoven]

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 in reply to Clutter]

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

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to Maggiemay12]

Teva was withdrawn from the market several years ago.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One licence was withdrawn by the MHRA and the company removed themselves from the levothyroxine market in the UK.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]

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 Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to Rita-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 in reply to helvella]

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 Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to Rita-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 in reply to helvella]

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 in reply to Maggiemay12]

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

[mandys in reply to looselywoven]

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

[Happy-go-lucky in reply to helvella]

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 Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to Happy-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]

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 Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to mandys]

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.