Is Armour Thyroid Going Off the Market? What's the Status of Thyrolar?
Thursday April 22, 2004
I've been receiving many emails lately from readers asking about Armour Thyroid. "Is Armour going off the market?" asks Lena, who was told by her pharmacist, they're no longer making Armour." "Why can't I get Armour?" asks Theo, who has been to four pharmacies, all of whom say that Armour is backordered and they can't fill his prescription for Armour 1/4 grain (15 mcg). The truth is that the problems with supply are because Armour is more popular than ever, and it's not going off the market. I called the company. Find out more now.
The unofficial word from the folks at Forest Laboratories, the company that makes Armour, is that the supply issues with Armour are a result of the supply problems with another key thyroid drug they produce, Thyrolar. Thyrolar, a synthetic T4/T3 product, has ben going through a change to its manufacturing process to meet FDA regulations, and some dosage sizes have been difficult to obtain or unavailable for several months.
In response, doctors have been frequently switching their Thyrolar patients over to Armour Thyroid as an interim measure. The company apparently did not have enough Armour on hand to fill the gap for Thyrolar.
The review process for Thyrolar is now apparently near completion or complete, and is moving on to the validation stage. While the company web page says that Thyrolar should be available again no later than September, the unofficial word is that it could be at least a month or two earlier than that, as production is likely to start back up again shortly.
In the meantime, while Armour is going through a small manufacturing review, there are no production stops as part of the process. The availability problems with Armour are solely due to the increased demand from Thyrolar customers, and the fact that more Armour was not produced in anticipation of the Thyrolar customer demand. But, according to the company, supply problems with Armour are no more than a week or two backlog, and your pharmacy should be able to fill your prescriptions shortly in all dosages.
Find out more about THYROLAR
Find out more about ARMOUR
~ Mary Shomon, April 22, 2003
The unofficial word from the folks at Forest Laboratories, the company that makes Armour, is that the supply issues with Armour are a result of the supply problems with another key thyroid drug they produce, Thyrolar. Thyrolar, a synthetic T4/T3 product, has ben going through a change to its manufacturing process to meet FDA regulations, and some dosage sizes have been difficult to obtain or unavailable for several months.
In response, doctors have been frequently switching their Thyrolar patients over to Armour Thyroid as an interim measure. The company apparently did not have enough Armour on hand to fill the gap for Thyrolar.
The review process for Thyrolar is now apparently near completion or complete, and is moving on to the validation stage. While the company web page says that Thyrolar should be available again no later than September, the unofficial word is that it could be at least a month or two earlier than that, as production is likely to start back up again shortly.
In the meantime, while Armour is going through a small manufacturing review, there are no production stops as part of the process. The availability problems with Armour are solely due to the increased demand from Thyrolar customers, and the fact that more Armour was not produced in anticipation of the Thyrolar customer demand. But, according to the company, supply problems with Armour are no more than a week or two backlog, and your pharmacy should be able to fill your prescriptions shortly in all dosages.
Find out more about THYROLAR
Find out more about ARMOUR
~ Mary Shomon, April 22, 2003
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