The NHS England Specialist Pharmacy Service advice re desiccated thyroid has been updated.
Doesn't make much difference! But in case you are interested or need to know, it is linked below.
Note that it does NOT say desiccated thyroid cannot prescribed.
It still contains this bizarre sentence:
Commercially available DTE products are derived from cleaned, dried and powdered pig thyroid glands formulated into doses called ‘‘grains’’.
Which to me reads as 'Janet and John - Off we go to the pharmacy'. I mean, we still have numerous medicines which are dosed in milligram equivalents of grains - such as some aspirin and paracetamol products. When you see 325 (five grains) rather than 300 or 350.
And many other questionable statements and assertions.
Avoid prescribing desiccated (natural) thyroid extract
Published 20 January 2022 · Last updated 12 October 2023 · See all updates
Levothyroxine is the standard of care for treating hypothyroidism. Desiccated or natural thyroid extracts (DTE) are not routinely recommended.
Update history
12 October 2023 RMOC guidance removed and updated NHS England guidance
20 January 2022 Published
Rest of paper here: