I have just come back from the Pharmacy for the second time to get the 25's for my prescription.
I take 50's and 25's. Last week they said they didn't have Eltroxin which is what I had asked on my prescriptio request but was given Mercury Pharma for the 50's. I took these as they are made by Eltroxin, is that correct and the same?
But they didn't have the 25's so I said I would come back but today the Pharmacist said they only had generic Levothyroxine. So I said I would go back to Doctor's surgery and ask and the receptionist said she would put a note on my file to request but its was previously thrown out by the Pharmacy team at the surgery as apparently I don't have any need for a particular brand.
She also went on to say what's the difference aren't they all the same. I was getting a little bit riled trying to explain that keeping to same brand is helpful so there are no variances and one can at least try and get on the best possible dose rather than every two months being issued a different brand.
I just wondered is this a new thing that they won't sanction it as they had been over the last couple of years.
Has anyone else had trouble getting the same brand requested?
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Doubleelephant
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All the discussion about "brand" and "generic" really is confusing and largely irrelevant.
What matters is the formulation.
In the past, and for some medicines, the branded product is the one that launched the medicine. And the other products are in some sense copies of that.
But levothyroxine is such an old medicine this view really makes no sense.
(Eltroxin was actually launched as L-Thyroxine Glaxo and then branded as Eltroxin around a year or two later.)
But that product has changed hands, changed factory, changed formulation, there is really nothing left except the brand name.
And several other products have been launched. Many of which have also been renamed, acquired by different companies, etc.
The only meaning of a brand in the UK now is that Eltroxin and a recent launch, Vencamil, can be written on prescriptions. And, if that is done, the pharmacy is required to supply that.
But to a large extent you have to rely on the goodwill of the pharmacies. You might need to go round several.
You are right to understand that Advanz Pharma produce both a generic levothyroxine and the branded Eltroxin which are identical.
There is a strong tendency for doctors and pharmacists to assume all formulations are the same. They are not.
I am convinced this is real. I don't ask for any particular make of paracetamol, or other medicines. But experience has made me realise that for levothyroxine, every single formulation is different.
We have to navigate shortages - both real and ones which exist because of the distribution processes.
helvella's medicines documents (UK and Rest of the World) can be found here:
helvella - Thyroid Hormone Medicines
helvella has created, and tries to maintain, documents containing details of all thyroid hormone medicines in the UK and, in less detail, many others around the world.
This link takes you to a page which has direct links to the documents from Dropbox and Google Drive, and QR codes to make it easy to access from phones.
The UK document contains up-to-date versions of the Summary Matrix for tablets, oral solutions and liothyronine available in the UK.
It sounds like your surgery are being a bit uncaring. The government has issued advice about this. Print off a copy and take it with you to the surgery and hopefully they will back down and you will get what you need.
If you have the NHS app you can order your repeat prescription on there and at the bottom you can add a note for the pharmacy, I always request mercurypharma brand only and I seem to get it Everytime, so maybe worth ordering that way instead 😊
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