Has anyone experienced recent difficulties in getting Mercury Pharma levothyroxine from their pharmacist?

[bristolboy]

Having got home with my latest prescription of 150mcg Levo (and, for the first time in a long time, forgotten to check it before I left the shop) I realised I'd been given Mercury Pharma 100s (my preferred brand - correct!) and Teva 50s (very wrong!!). After a couple of calls to the pharmacist, she told me she could no longer get Mercury Pharma because the NHS had told her head office (a small-ish chain of chemists in the South West) they had to supply the cheapest brands. She could offer me Northstar (which I believe is another brand repackaged, but is not MP). Before I call anyone a liar, is anyone aware of the NHS telling pharmacies that they must only provide the cheapest possible brands of Levo? I suspect "head office" is either trying to save a few pennies, or they're just shifting whatever stock is most convenient for them. I'll be asking my surgery to re-issue the prescription so I can go elsewhere, but I'm still keen to know where I stand. If this turns out to be true, then I shall have rethink my preferred brand

[RedApple Administrator]

bristolboy, 'they're just shifting whatever stock is most convenient for them.'

That is the usual and therefore most likely explanation. Does your GP actually put MP on your prescription? I seem to recall there's an official MHRA directive that says GPs can and should do this for patients who need to keep to a consistent brand of levo.

[bristolboy in reply to RedApple]

My GP puts “not Teva” - I think I need to get that changed 🙂

[RedApple Administrator in reply to bristolboy]

So your script says 'not Teva', but pharmacist still gave you Teva 50s? Definitely not acceptable!

[bristolboy in reply to RedApple]

Indeed!!

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Request GP amend all future prescriptions to read

“Mercury Pharma brand only “

If your prescription currently says No Teva …..pharmacy needs to replace the Teva with an alternative

gov.uk/drug-safety-update/l...

If a patient reports persistent symptoms when switching between different levothyroxine tablet formulations, consider consistently prescribing a specific product known to be well tolerated by the patient. If symptoms or poor control of thyroid function persist (despite adhering to a specific product), consider prescribing levothyroxine in an oral solution formulation

[bristolboy in reply to SlowDragon]

They've tried to give me Teva before. Their excuse is always the same - they didn't see the word "Not", only the word "Teva". Thank goodness my prescription isn't for anything that's potentially lethal!!

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to bristolboy]

Their excuse is always the same - they didn't see the word "Not", only the word "Teva".

Oooh! What an opportunity to say

Should have gone to Specsavers

🤓🧐🤣🤣

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to SeasideSusie]

We had better hope they don't do similarly with Adrenaline vs. Noradrenaline.

Or Nortriptyline vs. Amitryptyline.

[Lulu2607 in reply to helvella]

Indeed. Joking aside, it's a potentially very serious error. I'd be very annoyed if my pharmacy made that comment in such a flippant way.

[Simplyred57]

I have ‘mercury pharma only ‘ on my prescription put on by my GP , and no problems getting it from my small local pharmacy.( I still check before leaving pharmacy)

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK]

When someone reports that a particular medicine cannot be obtained by their pharmacy, I always suggest contacting the pharmaceutical company/manufacturer directly.

We have had many occasions when the information given by the pharmacy to the member has not been accurate.

Examples with good outcomes have included:

• There were issues, but they are now, or will very shortly be, resolved;

• There is no issue and it is not clear why the pharmacy said there was;

• The product has a new branding - and is now only available under the new name;

• Give the pharmacist some information and they will be able to get the product.

And examples with bad outcomes:

• The product is no longer available;

• There is an issue that will not be resolved in the time required;

• The product has been recalled.

Quite often, members have found that the pharmaceutical company/manufacturer can and will advise how a pharmacy can obtain stock. At the worst, you can find out from an authoritative source that there really is an issue that will not be resolved. With pharmacies, you will almost always have at least one extra company - the distributor - between the pharmaceutical company/manufacturer and the pharmacy, allowing confusion to enter.

Some pharmaceutical companies/manufacturers have been extremely helpful to members who have contacted them.

The company name is not always the same as the brand name. You can find the company name on the packaging (though in smaller letters and possibly on the back or bottom) and at the bottom of the Patient Information Leaflet. For example, Mercury Pharma is a brand name but the company is Advanz.

Contact details for most, possibly all, UK pharmaceutical companies/manufacturers can be found here:

medicines.org.uk/emc/browse...

[bristolboy in reply to helvella]

As has been said by others, many times, the problem of the companies changing the names of their brands etc is a nightmare - it's almost as though they wanted to confuse us poor patients. I don't know what we'd do if you didn't spend the time creating your list.

But on this occasion the problem doesn't seem to be lack of availability of the product to the pharmacy, it would appear to be the pharmacy lying to me about alleged diktats from the NHS about the pharmacy only supplying the cheapest brand of Levo.

No-one else seems to have been fed the same 'line', so I shall assume the pharmacy has lied to me. It's lucky we've all grown thick skins whilst on our thyroid journeys, isn't it, because it it's not the doctors lying, then it's the pharmacies, and if it's not the pharmacies then it's some other b*gger 🤬🤬

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to bristolboy]

The British National Formulary lists companies that supply levothyroxine tablets (not quite the same as actual brands - but close enough for now):

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

The NHS tariff prices are the same for all of them - no difference from one supplier to another for a given dosage.

However, we do not know what commercial arrangements exist between pharmacies and distributors which could be some sort of discount, or advantageous relationship, if they buy more from one company.

The NHS Drug Tariff is also accessible - here:

drugtariff.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/#/...

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to bristolboy]

As helvella has said ….the pharmacy gets paid the same price from NHS whichever brand……but the pharmacy obviously tries to buy in the cheapest for the biggest profit

Small independent pharmacies are often much more helpful

Like a Freehouse pub…..able to access wider choice of brands

[bristolboy]

So they lied to me. Why am I not surprised? Sigh........... 🙄

[Sparklingsunshine in reply to bristolboy]

Hiya

I always get Accord as a named brand because I'm sensitive to drugs and have had issues with anaphylaxis in the past. I get 150mcg prescribed and as my pharmacy were having issues with Accord 100mcg a few months ago, I get 3 x 50mcg instead.

Which works for me as I take 125mcg and its easier to cut a 50mcg tablet. I have definitely found smaller, independent chemists are much better than chains like Lloyd's, who were hopeless. If you are getting fobbed off it might be time to change your named pharmacy.

I don't know if you have much choice where you live but it's worth changing if this is going to be an ongoing issue and of course there are now online pharmacies available. I used Pharmacy2U for a while, they send your medication via Royal Mail tracked. Your GP sends the electronic prescription to them as normal and they send your pills in the post.

[bristolboy in reply to Sparklingsunshine]

I’ve got a couple of local independent pharmacies in mind, but I’d never thought of the online ones. I’ll look into them. Thanks.

[Sparklingsunshine in reply to bristolboy]

Hi

Before you change just check they can reliably stock the Mercury brand 😃

[foreversummer]

I'm the South West also and my normally reliable pharmacist says none of her suppliers have it. I have mp written on my prescription but it means nothing if they can't get hold of it. I'm going to do as Hevella says and contact the company directly. 😐

[bristolboy in reply to foreversummer]

My 2 local independent pharmacies couldn't guarantee being able to get MP. So I spoke to pharmacy2U - they said they generally keep it, but if ever it was out of stock it might delay my order by 2 or 3 days whilst they got it in (they wouldn't substitute something else if my script said "MP only" or words to that effect). That was a price I'm willing to pay, so I've decided to give them a go. Currently awaiting delivery of my first order. Fingers crossed!!

[SarahJane1471]

I have MP only on my script and have had no problems so far with my local chemist getting it. But yes I always check 😬

[Liz599]

My local (Tesco) pharmacy told me that they just put in the order for Levothyroxine and it was up to their supplier which brand they were sent, they couldn't specify particular ones. To avoid getting Teva, I switched to Boots who consistently have Almus Levothyroxine, seems to be better than Teva. Still feel rubbish most of the time but better than feeling like I was dying which I felt whilst on Teva!

[bristolboy in reply to Liz599]

Same with my pharmacy, so I’ve just changed to Pharmacy2U. They say they can always get MP, albeit with possibly a couple of days delay. Time will tell 😀