According to an article in the New York Times, the Department of Justice (DOJ) is charging drug company Forest Laboratories -- which makes thyroid drugs Levothroid, Thyrolar and Armour Thyroid -- with defrauding the government. According to the DOJ, Forest has fraudulently obtained millions of dollars through the illegal marketing of popular antidepressants Celexa and Lexapro for unapproved uses in children and teenagers.Prosecutors are charging that Forest covered up studies showing negative results for Celexa and Lexapro in children, paid kickbacks to doctors who prescribed Forest's drugs, and ran studies that were in actuality marketing efforts to promote the use of these antidepressant drugs.
The DOJ charges do not relate to Forest's thyroid drugs, but you have to wonder WHAT is going on with Forest, don't you? They have been reformulating Armour Thyroid on and off for several years, including the most recent Armour formula changes that are causing major problems for patients, and have had shortages for years. Currently, many of their thyroid products are unavailable and on backorder, and Forest will provide no explanation.
Given the DOJ information about Forest, and what's been happening to thyroid patients at the hands of this company, it certainly makes you wonder what else Forest is covering up...and what other shenanigans they might be up to?
If you're a thyroid patient who is finding it difficult to get Armour Thyroid or Thyrolar because of the mysterious shortages and backorders, or your Armour's not working because of the unexplained changes to the formula, sad to say, but I think it's time to abandon Forest's thyroid products and switch to other thyroid medications.
Photos: clipart.com
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I know that amour is a miracle drug for many people and that he big pharmacy promoters of synthroid get a bad rap, but the bottom line is that allll of these people are in the business to make money. Who do you think pays for all of the studies that show synthetic thyroid replacement doesn’t work? There is always a money trail even if it is a product that does what it says it will.
Jennifer is right. If there is one thing that is becoming more and more obvious after each day, it is that Forest is just as fallible as other pharmaceutical companies. There is a reason why Armour was reformulated and I think it can be traced back to money. Forest has been in a sticky situation with customers for awhile and now the government. I just wish another company besides RLC Labs would step up to plate and formulate a highly effective thyroid hormone treatment. It’s good to have choices.
I was one of those that the only thing that worked for me was Armour. I could not figure our why i was feeling awful from Jan-Oct of 2008? …. and then discovered online that the binding agent in Armour had changed and my body did not assimilate it. I now take Erfa desiccated thyroid which i get from the Canadian pharmacy Universal Drug Services. My doctor faxes my prescription to them. 866 783-4223 (fax)
866 456-2456
A 3 month supply including shipping is $25!
I have abandoned ship. this week I asked my Dr. to switch me to NatureThroid. i was too unhappy with the new armour, and i just had a bad feeling about it. my pharmacy doesn’t stock it, so they had to order it in, and it should be here by tomorrow. we will see if NatureThroid will make me feel better!
What pharmacy are you able to get this nature throid at. I was on that medicine in the begining when I first got sick. It was GREAT then they stopped shipping the drug to Florida and I switch to Armour and for years it worked great the last passed month I feel terrible again and now I know why!! If someone out there knows where I could get Nature throid it would really help me Thank you
There is a pharmacy in Arizona called Clark’s Pharmacy. Their telephone number is 1-480-488-2007 or 877-450-0040. That’s where I get mine from and they’ll ship it to you. Good Luck
I too stopped taking Armour, when I heard they changed the formula. I didn’t want to take the chance of feeling bad. I now take Nature-throid, I first got it from Express Scripts (877.603.8399 now I get it from Prescription Solutions 888.239.1301.(3month supply) They are both mail order.
While I respect the comments of Ms. Shomon, I am compelled to point out that she is reacting to an old New York Times article that dates back to February. In March, the FDA approved Lexapro for use in adolescents. http://www.frx.com/news/PressRelease.aspx?ID=1268211
It should also be noted that, anecdotally, anti-depressents tend to lead to increased thoughts of suicide. To put it as a health professional put it to me. “They start feeling better and may be brave enough to seriously consider suicide.” Unfortunately, depressed people may already be suicidal.
I empathize with the struggle of the author to find an effective Thyroid treatment. Best wishes in your quest.
Johnv
I thought I was OK until a week or so ago I started having heart palps, extreme fatigue and heaven help me, forgetting stuff. My boyfriend got very concerned, and I called my doc. Apparently Naturethroid is getting scarce, so I’m doing Westhroid. Good news: at Target Pharmacy, Westhroid is a $5 generic.
Thanks a lot, Forest. I bragged on Armour until now.
Talk to your doctor…because my labs said I was low on my T3, T4…TSH ect. and I had palpatations and insomnia.
Amy, read Dr. Datis Kharrazian’s “Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms When My Lab Tests Are Normal?” He explains everything. You sound like so many patients in this book. Most of the thyroid patients in the U.S. have thyroid problems due Hashimoto’s disease. I followed the protocol by eliminating GLUTEN from my diet along with taking the vitamins, probiotics and maintaining blood sugar control. And now don’t have the mental fogginess that you are describing. If only more people knew what I know now!
Amy, the reason you were getting the heart palpitations is because you were taking too much. My doctor told me a side effect of taking to much is heart palpitations, insomnia, and that’s how I would know to cut back on my thyroid.
about armour thyroid I for one had all types of reactions on synthroid,levothyroxin and what other kinds there are. I had thyroid cancer and it is my treatment for this.
So they had better quit messing with the people that make this or someone else had better start. Because I don’t want to die because some a hole has a problem
Getting back to the original article Ms. Shoman wrote, Celexa and citolapram, mirror drugs (identical), and many other antidepressant drugs have been implicated in adolescent and young adult suicide risk. I am not impressed if our highly “impressionable” FDA approved it anyway, like they did the other antid. My doctor yanked my older antid. away for no reason whatsoever to prescribe Lexapro. I am also aware of the “gifts” this doctor takes from drug manufacturers (kickbacks). If these drugs CAUSE what they Treat, depression, why do doctors rx it and big pharma produce it? Cold, Hard, Cash.- and at our expense. Do yourself a favor and try therapy instead. Studies show it is just as effective.
Well, we know “Big Drug” can’t be trusted. I have always wondered about Forest Labs after I became aware they also manufacture synthetic. In all comments I read I haven’t heard anyone mention the smell of Armour Thyroid. If you grew up in the country you will know what I mean. The smell had always been the odor of bacon frying cut from an old boar hog. I had noticed the odor becoming less strong. The last 6 months or so there has been very little odor. I had a recent battle with a CVS Pharmacy. They voided my last script. I went to pick it up, we had a heated discussion. They faxed my doctor, and then offered me the last 40 on the shelf as a refill. I got 30 with 1 refill ( I guess for the last ten). These had no odor at all, and did not look quite right. I didn’t take them. I have an appointment with my doctor to get a script for compounding. At this point I have not taken any of the pills, and I feel 500% better. I didn’t realize just how bad I was feeling. I had felt the way I did when I was first diagnosed, only worse. Actually with many of the symptoms I suffered on Synthroid. Now, I really have to wonder (since they have been proven to be dishonest with a total lack of moral fiber concerning the abuse of children for profit), have they been gradually replacing the natural with synthetic? Drug companies have done far worse. As for me if I cannot get a script for compounding the natural, I’m not taking anything. Good luck to all of you.
Too hell with the doj do we really think Forest Laboratories is any worse then the other company’s ?
for example does anyone believe that the makers of synthroid really don’t know that there product is inferior ?, of course not but they push it anyway knowing that most of us will suffer as a result .
does the DOJ care if we suffer as a result of loseing Armour Thyroid of course not , the big boy’s want to control everthing and they do it with patent’s , but they cant patent what the pig invented so they use government lackies to crush there competition .
make no mistake Thyroid is a big cash cow for HMO’S , and more so for synthroid users becouse useless TSH results call for looking elsweare with different tests and meds and the bills go up and up while the pain and suffering continue .
so much for capitalist medicine.
Hung out
I was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism in 1996. I was on 5 mg of tapazole (which normalized all my TSH, FT3 and FT4 levels) and had no palpitations. This young US-educated endocrinologist advised me to get Radioactive Iodine Therapy in 2009 since she said this was the cure of choice in the US. After getting Radioactive Iodine Therapy, I became hypothyroid. I couldn’t function properly, my memory was bad, I was gaining 5 lbs. a week, I felt extremely depressed and couldn’t go to work even if I was already on 150 mg Levothyroxine. My TSH, FT3 and FT4 levels never got back to its normal state (as what it used to be when I was on Tapazole) and my endocrinologist said it’s normal and TSH is not monitored anymore when you’re hypothyroid…what’s important is having normal T3 and T4 levels. My doctor said it was better to be hypothyroid than hyperthyroid…but is this really the case? She also forgot to mention some of the side effects of being hypothyroid such as depression, diabetis, rapid weight gain, and cardiac arrest/death! I never had any problems with these when I was still hyperthyroid. Maybe someone should take a research study on this as maybe drug companies are just using doctors (ever heard of expensive vacations sponsored by big pharma companies) to profit from their patients since these patients have to take Levothyroxine for the rest of their lives!
I was shocked and upset to find out that Forest stopped exporting Armour to the UK…there has been no explanation from anyone. Reformulated or not its the only thing that has worked for me. After much investigating I was able to get Armour again via a chemist in the UK and online from a pharmacy in the US. Erfa didnt work for me nor Levothyroxine, so I’m stuck without Armour from Forest.
I live in constant fear of this medication being withdrawn completely, so please don’t call to abandon Armour as it is the only hope for some of us.
Nov 2011, I started Armour Thyroid and this is the only thing that has helped me. I couldn’t function for 7 yrs. Depression; lack of concentration, memory,stamina; sensitivity to the morning light, pain in my hands, has all disappeared by taking Armour. Levothyroxine couldn’t make these symptoms disappear.
For 7 yrs, doctors didn’t want to help me. They left me on 50 mcg, Levo, for yrs with a TSH in the 3,4,5 range, at times and never cared to help me. When I finally did some extensive reading, I was able to tell them what I wanted and how they were going to start careing for me. When I layed down some rules, this is when I began to get some help out of them.
I take my Armour at bedtime and it works wonders. I no longer have bad thryroid symptoms. I am now feeling like the person I was Prior to this diagnoses.