Vencamil (was Aristo T4) now more expensive

[lolajone]

This is for information as much as anything. I've been settled on Aristo T4 for a good 18 months. Pharmacist this week said they can't get them so I pointed out they have rebranded to 'Vencamil' , after looking they agreed that was the case and said to get GP to change prescription to reflect that. GP has changed to read 'levothyroxine Vencamil brand'.

Call from pharmacy this afternoon to say they still can't dispense, has to say Vencamil only - no mention of levothyroxine otherwise they can't dispense. Reason for this is the Vencamil is lot more expensive.

So Aristo has been rebranded to Vencamil and now is more expensive.

I foresee another battle now to get them to agree to change it, particularly as it is more expensive - its exhausting!

[SlowDragon Administrator]

It’s probably not that Vencamil is more expensive…..but other brands are discounted

NHS pays a fixed price (regardless of brand) …..so if pharmacy can get on discounted price they have greater profit

unless prescription is written correctly to specify a particular brand NHS won’t reimburse if price is higher than currently agreed

How to prescribe brand levothyroxine

[Jaydee1507 Administrator in reply to SlowDragon]

That will work for any other brand other than Vencamil. See my photo for Vencamil wording.

[lolajone in reply to SlowDragon]

Thank you pharmacist said to change it t read 'Vencamil'....and that is it. Said not to put levo on it, so different to the diagram above. Said they couldn't get through to my GP surgery to discuss it with them. I'll try with what they have said and if not go in brandishing the above image so thanks for that

[helvella Administrator]

The Aristo levothyroxine and Vencamil are the same price - £1.77 - which is more than most other products.

I don't know what exactly happened, but the GP surgery pharmacist managed to get the pharmacy to agree. He seemed to think the difference was small enough not to matter. And I have been getting it for quite a while now. I did ask the pharmacist if they wanted the prescription changed to Vencamil, but they said not to bother (at least, at the time).

[helvella Administrator in reply to helvella]

helvella - Prescribing Aristo Levothyroxine and Vencamil

How prescriptions for Aristo Levothyroxine and Aristo Vencamil need to be written. Includes some pictures!

helvella.blogspot.com/p/hel...

[Jaydee1507 Administrator]

I have attached a photo of the correct wording to get Vencamil dispensed. You will notice that it doesn't mention levothyroxine even.

Instead of searching for levothyroxine on their computer they need to search for the brand name. The computer should then automatically write as per the photo.

Good luck.

Vencamil prescription correct wording

[lolajone in reply to Jaydee1507]

Thank you, that's useful to see

[HealthStarDust]

As everyone above has advised. The prescription must specify the brand from the GPs drop down list, and not just a note.

Separately, can anyone advise how Vencamil is pronounced?

[Jaydee1507 Administrator in reply to HealthStarDust]

I would say ven ka mil.

[HealthStarDust in reply to Jaydee1507]

Thank you muchly m’dear.