T3 Costs in the UK

[Aslangal]

Out of interest,does anyone have a ball park figure for how much a monthly supply of T3 would be on the NHS? I want to be knowledgeable for an upcoming Endo appt. 😀

[Hkm2281]

bnf.nice.org.uk/medicinal-f...

Here you should find the exact cost of tablets depending on strength required

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to Hkm2281]

The BNF figures would appear absolutely to be the relevant ones.

However, it might be possible to get Henning Thybon or Ace Cytomel (from Netherlands - not Pfizer from USA) prescribed and dispensed - their costs could be somewhat lower.

[zoechal in reply to helvella]

I get my Thybon Henning from Germany. Works out about £250 per year

[YSpencer in reply to zoechal]

Depends on how much you take each day. I pay just under £40 for 100 20 mcgThybon Henning.

[YSpencer in reply to Hkm2281]

Thank you very much for this. The prices have definitely come down over the last couple of years. I am one of the lucky ones who gets a private prescription from my GP and buy from Germany. I am concerned about what will happen when we leave the EU. My Endo wrote to my GP saying l should get it on the NHS but he said he had to give a reason for prescribing it. Knowing that l could buy it at a reasonable cost from Germany l said l would continue to do so. However if l cannot buy it going forwards l shall try to get it from the GP. He is well aware that l feel much better taking it. Thank you again.

[crmavb in reply to YSpencer]

Are you buying from Germany using a prescription or a referral letter from your Endocrinologist? I’m buying from Mexico without a referral. But I’m wanting to try another endocrinologist for supervision

[YSpencer in reply to crmavb]

Hi, l get a prescription from the GP. After years of pestering him he agreed to give me the prescription but said l had to source it myself. The first Endo l saw wouldn’t discuss T3 but did lots of tests that were all negative. The second Endo was young and more open minded. I had been taking the T3 for a while and she could see that l was much better taking it. She immediately said she would write to the GP saying it should be added to my NHS prescriptions. Although he wouldn’t add it he continues to write the prescription and doesn’t charge me for it. I still see the same Endo annually for a check up. Perhaps you could ask your GP for another referral once this COVID 19 has finished and things are a bit more normal.

[Safkhan in reply to YSpencer]

Is your doctor in the uk? Who prescribes?

[YSpencer in reply to Safkhan]

Yes both Endo and GP are in the U.K. The GP prescribed after a lot of hassling from me.

[vocalEK in reply to Hkm2281]

NICE is not being nice. I cannot see the BNF figures. The message says that only users in the UK can do so. I'm in "the colonies".

[Hkm2281 in reply to vocalEK]

I can look for you what dose and which manufacturer do you want me to look for?

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to vocalEK]

Here is a PDF of the BNF liothyronine costs page:

dropbox.com/s/vpohizfvdare3...

Thanks for offering Hkm2281

[vocalEK in reply to helvella]

Cool! Thank you.

[Lalatoot]

£205 for 28 tablets 20mcg.

[Aslangal in reply to Lalatoot]

Eeeeek! I can see why they don’t want to prescribe it then! 🙄

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Lalatoot]

Price has shot up from £158 last month to £176 (28 tablets 20mcg) this month

Exploiting current pandemic

Private Prescription enables access to cheap T3 from EU ...31 euro for 100 tablets of 20mcg

Media coverage

thyroidtrust.org/media-cove...

mjauk.org/wp-content/upload...

dailymail.co.uk/news/articl...

medscape.com/viewarticle/90...

theyworkforyou.com/search/?...

[T03Knee in reply to SlowDragon]

That’s still cheaper than it was, in 2017 when concordia were the only supplier it was about £270 for 28, must have dropped over the last year or so as assumed it still was!

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to T03Knee]

Two other suppliers were issued licenses....surprise surprise they came in at identical full price too

Price has subsequently dropped, very slowly over last 2 years

Government has power to step in and force price down.....but no action been taken

[Purpledreamer in reply to SlowDragon]

I’m sorry are you saying it’s around £150/70 for 28 tablets? And do most people take one a day?

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Purpledreamer]

Price charged to NHS is £176 for 28 tablets 20mcg T3

Many people would take 10mcg or 15mcg ...if that’s the case they would be prescribed 10mcg or 5mcg tablets ....which are even more expensive

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Probably most common dose is 20mcg....so one a day

But others might take 30mcg or 40mcg

[Purpledreamer in reply to SlowDragon]

Oh my gosh! I had no idea it was so expensive! I guess that explains a lot. So is this why some end is will prescribe but ask you to source it yourself from say Germany? Is armour cheaper?

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Purpledreamer]

T3 is only expensive in UK

Cheap in rest of world

[Aslangal in reply to SlowDragon]

Ridiculous isn’t it?

[shaws Administrator]

We used to get a reasonably priced T3 before the extortionate price rises.

We hypo patients were delighted that another company (or two) was going to provide T3 also and hopeful that it would be reasonably priced. Imagine our horror when we found that all three sources were priced practically identical but then prohibited due to the high cost to the NHS. This was a perfect excuse by those who are supposed to be knowledgeable about how to treat those who're hypothyroid.

How can other sources (not the UK) provide T3 be cheaper than the NHS? I think the NHS didn't mind because they withdrew the prescribing of T3 instantly. A perfect excuse but their decision - without notice - caused panic and anxiety of those who could no longer have T3 prescribed.

[Aslangal in reply to shaws]

Well somebody is making money out of misery that’s for sure

[shaws Administrator in reply to Aslangal]

Yes - Big Pharma.

How is it that other countries can provide T3 at a much lower cost? The fact that they've also withdrawn NDT in the UK - as many used to get that prescribed - a saver of all lives since 1892 and contains all of the hormones a healthy gland would do.

In the UK they had to make False Statements in order to do withdraw it without any notice or discussion. They also ignored one of TUK's Advisers - an expert in the use of T3 - who would never prescribe levo as he stated it became No.1. due to doctors being 'paid' by Big Pharma to prescribe - initially (in USA I believe).

Those who make these 'huge' life-giving decisions (huge because many lives were dependent upon it) seem to be very harsh and uncaring - not a quality one would expect medical professionals to make!

Big Pharma seems to be the winner i.e. by people not recovering or their clinical symptoms not being resolved are given 'other' prescriptions to try to relieve them.

So, in the UK, we used to get NDT, T3, or T3/T4 prescribed. It's not our fault that the Pharma companies raised the prices, not - in the case of NDT - removed regardless of many recovering on it.

I really do not understand - being brought up not to to tell lies -that well-educated professionals have done so in order to withdraw a thyroid hormone replacement - without notice I believe - and leaving patients stranded and the intense worry of how they could retain their symptom-free replacement.

[T03Knee in reply to shaws]

I’m sure that was a big part of it, several people have emailed concordia and the excuses range from the cost of the raw ingredients (yet ever other company can make them cheaper abroad) and that the price increased to balance out the costs of other medications to make them cheaper.

[T03Knee]

That’s not a bad price, but still profiteering considering tiromel is about €2 for a box of 100 if you buy it in turkey over the counter!

[Aslangal in reply to T03Knee]

Is that T3?

[Pumpkin81]

I was buying T3 from Germany for £28 for 3 months supply before I was prescribed it on the NHS. It’s very cheap to obtain outside the UK if you’re endo refuses to prescribe it.

[Lourid in reply to Pumpkin81]

Was that OTC or with a prescription?

[Pumpkin81 in reply to Lourid]

It was with a private prescription.

[Aslangal in reply to Pumpkin81]

If we self medicate - what does our GP or Endo say about that? Will or can they refuse to treat us?

[Hurtlocker]

Hi ...dont know what they would be to NHS but v.expensive I bet...thats why Endo's wont prescribe...I know costs to buy them on private prescription vary between £390.00 and £600!!! For 58 tabs!!! I bought six month supply from Germany cheaper but wont be able to do that after Brexit...Speak to your MP!!and complain...I have..and letter to Matt Hancock and his reply is on this site!!!

[MichelleHarris in reply to Hurtlocker]

We should come up with a standard letter that we can individually tweak and send them en masse x

[Oldandill in reply to Hurtlocker]

Hi. Do you know how I might get T3 from Germany without a prescription ? Can't get an Endo appointment and GP won't give private script but has switched me to T4 which makes me very I'll. Please reply privately if you have any info.

[Hurtlocker in reply to Oldandill]

Hi. You wont get T3 in Germany without a script from your doctor here and if you have script they are pretty picky on how it is written...but I wish you luck...maybe see another doctor who Will write a private prescription..regards June

[LECJ]

My friend in Athens sends mine (Tiromel) about 3 euro for a month I think from a pharmacy there

[Denz65]

28 tablets are roughly £260

[tcpace in reply to Denz65]

And the NHS are stupid enough to pay that sort of price rather than procure T3 from other non-UK sources at a fraction of the price. I saw recently that the NHS are paying out something like £30 million on year on T3 and they're paying that money to scam merchants.

[Denz65]

There is only 1 supplier in the UK so they have a monopoly on charging - they keep running out of an ingredient- I know this as I once emailed to find out why there wasn’t any stocks - they replied thinking I was someone important and not just a patient who found a loophole haha

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to Denz65]

There are now three UK suppliers.

UK Liothyronine Tablets

➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖

Last updated 30/04/2020.

This is a list of currently marketed liothyronine tablets in the UK.

—————————————————————

🔹 Advanz – branded Mercury Pharma, formerly branded Tertroxin (marketing authorisation holder)

🏭 Custom Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (manufacturer)

🥛 contains lactose

  20  PL 10972-0033

—————————————————————

🔹 Morningside – also branded Iraksin (marketing authorisation holder)

🏭 Morningside Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (manufacturer)

🥛 contains lactose

  5  PL 20117-0323

  10  PL 20117-0324

  20  PL 20117-0270

—————————————————————

🔹 Teva – (marketing authorisation holder)

  20  PL 00289/2116

➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖

Some non-UK Liothyronine Tablets

🔹 Ace – branded Cytomel (marketing authorisation holder – Netherlands)

🏭 Ace (manufacturer)

  5

  12.5

  25

—————————————————————

🔹 Mayne Pharma – (marketing authorisation holder – USA)

🏭 manufactured in Germany

  5

  25

  50

—————————————————————

🔹 Pfizer – branded Cytomel (marketing authorisation holder – USA)

🏭 manufactured in Austria

  5

  25

  50

—————————————————————

🔹 Sanofi – branded Cynomel (marketing authorisation holders – France)

  25

—————————————————————

🔹 Sanofi Deutschland – branded Henning Thybon (marketing authorisation holders – Germany)

🏭 Sanofi-Aventb, S.A. Josep Pla, 2, 08019 Barcelona, Spain (manufacturer)

  20

  100

—————————————————————

🔹 SigmaPharm – (manufacturer – USA)

🏭 Sigmapharm Laboratories, LLC (manufacturer)

  5

  25

  50

➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖

🔹 – identifies marketing authorisation holders

🏭 – identifies manufacturers (where known)

—————————————————————

Numbers refer to tablet dosages in micrograms.

Only products which definitely contain lactose are identified (🥛 contains lactose). Please check other products.

If there is anything inaccurate in this information, please let me know by Private Message:

healthunlocked.com/user/hel...

➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖

This document is updated whenever I am aware of any changes or enhancements are needed. Please check the Last updated date. The current version is available as a PDF here:

dropbox.com/s/xlibro9l9jbfb...

[Tginger]

I usually buy mine from Germany. However, due to the current situation my last private prescription from GP was not left at the reception for me to collect as they used to do but was sent to my local pharmacy. The pharmacy quoted me around £450 for 100 tablets of 20 mcg liothyronine.

[thyr01d]

As the surgery frequently used to remind me it is very expensive, apparently my dose costs them £200 per month.

[thyroid-archer]

I have been looking into this extortionate UK pricing for some time now. Interestingly the Competition and Markets Authority opened an investigation in October 2016. The current state of play on this can be seen here,

gov.uk/cma-cases/pharmaceut...

Progress has been remarkably slow, and in the meantime, as seen on the BNF link, several other manufacturers have entered the UK market - but all at the same price!! So much for competition. It is remarkable that the rest of the EU pays <10% of UK prices?

[KittyAO in reply to thyroid-archer]

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is the sponsoring Govt Dept of the CMA and Minister Paul Scully is responsible for Consumers and Competition. Paul Scully is the MP for Sutton and Cheam.

[Lovecake]

Why would we not be able to still get our prescriptions from the EU after Brexit? Surely we could still get the T3, but with an import tax or something similar?

My husband is type 2 diabetic, he can’t tolerate the usual metformin and has a tablet that costs around £240 per month. Of course they don’t like to prescribe it, but he wasn’t asked to self source or go private for it 🤷‍♀️

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Lovecake]

EU pharmacies only accept prescriptions from EU registered doctors .....hence Brexit likely a big problem

[Lovecake in reply to SlowDragon]

Oh bother!

I really don’t want to change brands.

I’m awaiting a prescription at the moment. That will take me through to February 2021. I do have spare if there are issues.

Might we need to get it from Canada maybe?

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Lovecake]

Take the issue up with your MP

Write to Matt Hancock and shadow health secretary too

There will not be many/any prescription supply options available apart from extortionate UK supply

[Lovecake in reply to SlowDragon]

I will. Thank you.

Many more of us will be going backwards if that happens

I wonder if they will allow us to buy if we actually go there?

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Lovecake]

Not without prescription from EU registered doctor

[Lovecake in reply to SlowDragon]

Oh brother I’d better get onto it.

Unfortunately, I think Mr Hancock will have other things on his mind during this pandemic.

I’ll try Theresa May first. Being Diabetic, she might have some empathy for us T3 users (or might not). But at this point I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt and say she will try and help.

I will also write to my endocrinologist to see if he has anything helpful to say about it.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to Lovecake]

MPs generally will not attempt to do anything for people other than their own constituents.

This is a long-standing protocol.

[Lora7again in reply to helvella]

Mine did promise to help but she hit a brick wall when trying to ask Matt Hancock about thyroid disease unfortunately.

[Beastie]

I get mine prescribed by endo on NHS. I'm on combination. I'd completely given up any hope of ever getting t3 that wasn't self procured and administered but in December - at my endo check up - you couldn't blown me over with a feather when he suggested a trial of combination after new studies from the Netherlands. You have to fit the criteria....show that t4 alone is not working. I'm in Scotland... I don't know if that makes any difference.

[Milliemoo57]

I got my 1st prescription of thybon last week I paid €26 for 56 tablets - I’m in Southern Ireland

[Hashi-hacker]

I don't know how much my NHS T3 costs however I take 20mcg a day and have been given 20mcg tablets and advised to dissolve a tablet in water then throw half away, and do this twice a day. What I have been doing is using a pill cutter to half the pill and take one half in the morning and the second in the afternoon, so I have immediately halved the cost of my meds and 'burden' on the NHS.

Is this wise to go against what I've been told to do? It seems to work for me medically in that I feel a lot better on the T4/T3 combo, it avoids putting the waste T3 directly into the sewage system (although I have no idea if this is an actual issue) and avoids the faff of grinding and dissolving the pills saving about 20-25 mins a day.

[tcpace in reply to Hashi-hacker]

Which idiot told you that! Absolute garbage. Carry on using the pill cutter - something my wife has been doing since 2010 - and at the same time save the NHS some cash.

[Lovecake in reply to Hashi-hacker]

I break mine into quarters as I only take 5mcg twice a day. I buy mine but would do the same if I was prescribed by nhs doc/endo.

Are yours Thybon Henning?

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Hashi-hacker]

You are correct to cut T3 up and completely ignore advise to dissolve T3+

Coincidence that This advice on dissolving T3 and throwing the rest away only started after approx 50% of NHS patients had T3 prescription stopped

If you were to need to do as they advised...the waste liquid should NEVER be put in waste water

Can you imagine the face on pharmacist ...if you turned up with buckets of “waste T3 water” for safe disposal !

[Tiromeluk]

I get 1000 tablets for £130 10 boxes of tiromel 25 mcg

[Aslangal in reply to Tiromeluk]

In UK?