mercury Pharma - never in stock

[Gosierunn]

hi all

I take Mercury Pharma and have really struggled to get it locally, I finally found a pharmacist that stocks it - a travel an away - but have just had my dosage increased and they don’t stock that quantity.

I’m ringing around other pharmacies but coming up blank. Just wondered if anyone is experiencing this problem at the moment - and / or know any pharmacies in the Birmingham area that stock it….

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK]

Mercury Pharma is a company/brand owned by Advanz Pharma.

Mercury Pharma have two product lines - Mercury Pharma levothyroxine and Mercury Pharma Eltroxin.

The products are absolutely 100% identical - only the packaging is slightly different.

Sometimes prescribers and pharmacists do not appreciate all of this.

Also, it appears that the company might only be producing Eltroxin at present.

If they look up Mercury Pharma but it is listed under Advanz Pharma on their system, they might miss it.

If they look up Advanz Pharma but it is listed under Mercury Pharma on their system, they might miss it.

If they look up Eltroxin but it is only available as levothyroxine, they might miss it.

If they look up levothyroxine but it is only available as Eltroxin, they might miss it.

In other words, a bit of a mess from our point of view.

However, if you explain this, they might find they do actually have it, or can get hold of it.

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. There is now a specific world desiccated thyroid document.

I highly recommend viewing on a computer screen, or a decent sized tablet, rather than a phone. Even I find it less than satisfactory trying to view them on my phone.

helvella - Thyroid Hormone Medicines - UK

The UK document contains up-to-date versions of the Summary Matrixes for levothyroxine tablets, oral solutions and also liothyronine available in the UK. Includes descriptions of tablet markings which allow identification. Latest updates include all declared ingredients for all UK products and links to Patient Information Leaflets, etc.

helvella - World Desiccated Thyroid

Contains details of all known desiccated thyroid products.

helvella - Thyroid Hormone Medicines - RotW

Contains details of all levothyroxine, liothyronine and combination products - excluding desiccated thyroid products. Details available vary by country and manufacturer.

The link below takes you to a blog page which has direct links to the documents from Dropbox and QR codes to make it easy to access from phones. You will have to scroll down or up to find the link to the document you want.

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

[Gosierunn in reply to helvella]

Thanks for this - presumably I would need a prescription for Eltroxin?

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to Gosierunn]

If your prescription says "Eltroxin" then that is all that can be supplied.

However, I think that if it says "levothyroxine" (without any indication of make/brand at all) then they could supply Eltroxin.

At one time, I'd have been a lot more certain, but we have seen so many questionable things from some pharmacies, I'd no longer be so sure of anything.

[RedApple Administrator in reply to helvella]

I do have some sympathy for pharmacists on this issue. Keeping up to date with brand names versus manufacturer names, doses supplied by each, ingredients of each, is a nightmare for us, but at least we're not hampered by their workplace time constraints and digital databases that don't cross reference.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to RedApple]

I agree. In that way, and regarding the great difficulties regarding not getting paid enough, they are in a difficult place.

A lot try very, very hard. But from some things discussed here, a few let down the rest.

[Gosierunn in reply to helvella]

Thanks all - I’ve managed to get the GP to split the script and I’ve collected 25mcg Mercury pharma from local pharmacy who did actually have some in, and will get the 50mcg from another place (40 mins drive away) tomorrow. Can breath easy for the next 2 months and then likely go through the same rigmarole then 😩

I agree with comments above though / must be a nightmare for them.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to Gosierunn]

Very pleased.

Can you confirm whether it is packaged as levothyroxine or Eltroxin?

[Gosierunn in reply to helvella]

Levothyroxine… I tried a couple of pharmacies and they seemed flummoxed when I mentioned Eltroxin. Then as it happened they found a couple of packets of the MP Levo so was ok, and the 50mcg seem pretty reliable to get hold of. It’s very useful to know though.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

I have recently moved house and area.

Previously had a wonderful independent pharmacist who always had Mercury Pharma in stock for at least a dozen of his regular patients

Now based in Surrey ……had to ring over 30 pharmacies before I found any Mercury Pharma in stock anywhere

And yes…..only 100mcg available in one pharmacy and eventually tracked down 25mcg in another pharmacy

So going forward I will be getting 2 separate prescriptions for the different doses

Surrey area only seems to stock Accord (not available in 25mcg dose anyway) or Teva

[Anthea55]

Another place to look If you can't get your prescription filled locally might be worth looking at the Thyroid UK list of pharmacies. Some of these dispense NHS as well as private prescriptions. Here's the link.

thyroiduk.org/get-support/t...

You'll have to ask what they do about costs of postage etc. but it's probably less than your petrol costs for travelling to a distant pharmacy.

[Gosierunn in reply to Anthea55]

That’s a great shout - thank you!

[Regenallotment]

masses of it in the main GP linked pharmacy in Hereford if you fancy a drive in the West Mids countryside 🤣 (although I’m sure you’ll find it closer), juniors in the pharmacy were offering it to me as an alternative to my lactose free Aristo. Obvs not suitable as contain lactose . More experienced Pharmacist said keep trying, deliveries of all sorts come in from one week to the next. Also worth contacting your MP and mentioning NICE guidelines and patients should have the Levo that suits them and not be forced to change. At least two MPs on the case with this. Up here and down in Sussex. 🌱

[Gosierunn in reply to Regenallotment]

Good idea re MP - I will definitely do that my MO is pretty active and responsive

[Gosierunn in reply to Gosierunn]

MP!

[AngelRain]

Having been told for the best part of a year that Mercury Pharma 100s were no longer available, my last prescription was dispensed entirely as Mercury Pharma.

[Gosierunn in reply to AngelRain]

Go figure!

[Loislincmum]

I too can only take Mercury Pharma. At the moment where I am (Liverpool) it’s a nightmare to get hold of. My usual pharmacy can’t get them ( I used to work there!) so only Boots have it. They only have 25mcg and I take 75mcg so I’ve had to go through the rigmarole of getting my prescription changed to say 3 25s to be taken daily! I recently went away to Southern Ireland and forgot my levo! My friend took me to her local pharmacy and he gave me the Eltroxin brand, they were fine. It’s a nightmare sometimes trying to get the brand that is right for you. I’ve been using this brand for 8 years since I was diagnosed. Hopefully you get sorted.

[Babette]

I find Asda quite good. Apparently they can access more than one wholesaler.

[Benjipuss]

How bizarre, as since the end of December I’ve been having Teva and was concerned this week as I was given this one! Had first dose today and feel quite perky, but could be coincidental of course! Hope you’ve managed to source some .