What's happening re; Mercury Pharma T3?

[pffft2017]

For 14 years I was on this wonderful medication and now have been told by by surgery they're unable to specify this brand as it doesn't exist, yet my brilliant pharmacist has so far provided it for three months. Have the NHS blacklisted Mercury Pharma? I was under the impression they had lowered their prices in line with Morningside and Teva, I had side effects with the former and weight gain with the latter.

[jimh111]

You can check with the licence holder Mercury Pharma Group Ltd. I believe the other brands are slightly cheaper so pharmacists will push the other brands onto you to make a bigger profit, they may even make a loss with Mercury.

Whilst I have found Teva even worse I have found Mercury very poor with variable potency, especially once the pack has been opened. Still vastly better than no L-T3. From an FOI request I found out that every batch of Mercury liothyronine over the past five years (probably longer) has had to undergo a 'batch variation' test. In simple terms their product is not up to standard and has to be passed on a batch by batch basis.

[pffft2017 in reply to jimh111]

Thanks for the reply and sorry for my late response. I did contact Mercury who said Alliance is still their supplier but it seems the NHS have removed the option at my surgery from their system. I gained weight and felt exhausted on Teva and Morningside caused weird dreams and sleep disruption but I did drop a few pounds on it.

[jimh111 in reply to pffft2017]

I find the right dose of liothyronine increases my dream sleep and this leads to better cognitive function and alertness. My guess is that dream sleep helps restore the brain and that liothyronine will improve sleep quality but the weirdness of the dreams is down to the individual!

[shaws Administrator]

As far as I know Mercury Pharma was sold and bought by another Pharma company.

If you are in the UK, T3 is no longer being prescribed at all but maybe a private prescription can be given but you will have to pay. Due to T3 being taken over since Mercury by two other Pharma companies the price has increased by 6,000% and has been withdrawn from being prescribed altogether by the NHS.

It was supposed not to be withdrawn for those that really need it but this has been ignored and many surgeries have told patients (mine included) that no longer will they prescibe T3.

We've had a Case before the House of Lords and there was a debate about the high cost of T3 at present and I will link you into it:

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

It lasted from 3 p.m. to past 8 p.m.

Another past post:

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu......

We have to contact our MP and complain that a life-saving hormone is being withdrawn or has/been or we cannot get it prescribed.

[katherine107 in reply to shaws]

hi, i still recieve mercury pharma t3 on nhs prescription. i get it every month from boots. maybe will be stopped eventually

[jimh111 in reply to shaws]

Liothyronine is still prescribed by the NHS although a number of CCGs attempt to stop it being prescribed.

[shaws Administrator in reply to jimh111]

My doctor told me explicity the surgery will not provide T3 as they've had a statement to that effect.

He also knows I have been buying my own but now find some difficulties in source. He was quite adamant.

[jimh111 in reply to shaws]

That's a local decision and regretfully happening more and more. There are still many doctors who do prescribe liothyronine and I think it's best to adopt the approach that we expect it to be prescribed rather than accepting that it will not be prescribed. I appreciate your situation, I think it's up to those of us lucky enough to still get prescriptions to maintain an expectation that they should continue in order to stop the rot.

(Your doctor is not obliged to follow the CCG recomendations but you can only take this horse to water).

[pffft2017 in reply to shaws]

My giddy aunt, what are we going to do? I'm intolerant to thyroxine and I've managed to get my T3 prescriptions for the past few months ok. Have you started an online petition? If they stop prescribing T3 I certainly couldn't afford to pay privately. This is an appalling situation. When do they plan to withdraw funding?

[shaws Administrator in reply to pffft2017]

It was withdrawn without notice and left those who take T3 high and dry and desperate. We have had petitions and also the Lords have taken up our cause 'Lord Hunt' was staggered that the cost of T3 rose 6,000%. We thought by having two other pharma companies being licenced would give us options of cost but it appeared they all now charge around the same - as far as I know about £600 per pack of T3.

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

You have to make an appointment with your GP and complain.

I shall give you some links:-

thyroiduk.org.uk/index.html

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to pffft2017]

It's only certain CCG's. Though many more would like to follow suit. It's all because of outrageous price being charged for all three NHS Liothyronine options. (They are all virtually identical price at £9 per tablet)

My own CCG allows Liothyronine on NHS if originally diagnosed as having clinical need by NHS endocrinologist,

Brighton CCG (and others) have tried to say its blanket ban, regardless of clinical need, directly against NHS guidelines

bsuh.nhs.uk/wp-content/uplo...

But there is determined campaign by Thyroid UK and other Thyroid Groups

Recent debates in House of Parliament and House of Lords

theyworkforyou.com/lords/?i...

The need to get all CCG's to acknowledge some patients need T3 and that this should be available right across all of NHS

EU Liothyronine from Germany or France on private prescription is very cheap. (30 euros for 100 tablets) But post Brexit many UK patients may have issues accessing even this.

[RedApple Administrator]

pffft2017, Mercury Pharma is now Concordia International. BUT their liothyronine product is still under the name of Mercury Pharma. It is listed on their website, so they obviously have not stopped producing it concordiarxinternational.co... .

There is no good reason why your pharmacist cannot fill your prescription with this brand unless there happens to be a temporary production shortage (You can always contact Concordia to ask about that).

If your usual pharmacist isn't helpful in obtaining the brand you need, take your prescription elsewhere.

[pffft2017 in reply to RedApple]

The pharmacist has been brilliant, it's the stroppy prescibing nurse I'm having trouble with.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

You need to find a helpful independent pharmacy who can source it for you

Apparently if a pharmacy has to order in a brand they don't stock there is an extra charge that the NHS won't pay.

I only take Morningside Healthcare T3 and was often offered Mercury Pharma instead!

[pffft2017 in reply to SlowDragon]

Thanks for the reply. The pharmacist isn't the problem, it's the nurse. Just found out that Mercury Pharma now goes under the name of AmCO which explains a lot. I'd have stuck with Morningside if not for the weird dreams, apparently statins have the same side effect I'm told.

[Aurealis]

A pharmacist has told me it’s listed as AmCo on their system, also called Concordia, but it’s still packaged just like Mercury Pharma and seems to work just the same. Ask them if they can supply you with AmCo, that’s what I’m doing. It seems to be the only way to get MP.

It’s like a secret society, all of this!

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to Aurealis]

The company name has changed (Mercury Pharma has effectively been taken over by Concordia) - but the product branding has not.

Amdipharm and Mercury Pharma have merged to create a single, consolidated, international speciality pharmaceuticals company. With effect from 1 March 2013 the merged entity will be called Amdipharm Mercury Company Limited ('AMCo').

concordiarxinternational.co...

Concordia International is the result of the acquisition by Concordia Healthcare Corp (now Concordia International Corp) of the AMCo group on 21 October 2015

concordiarxinternational.co...

[pffft2017 in reply to Aurealis]

Thanks for that vital piece of info. The stroppy nurse had changed it to AmCO and I have been insisting they change it to Mercury Pharma which she said doesn't exist. Now all becomes clear and I shall blame my embarrassment on my thyroid problem.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Aurealis]

AmCo sold Mercury Pharma to Concordia some years ago

m.imgur.com/a/U42vD

The CMA take the company to court, not the product

gov.uk/government/news/drug...

theguardian.com/business/20...

[Babette]

I picked mine up from Asda last week so it's still available. AAH didn't have it in stock but it was available from one of their suppliers so took an extra day. Perhaps it's a wholesaler problem?

[Pascha1]

I picked up my mercury Pharma last week so they are still doing it