From Mary Shomon Your Thyroid Guide
Press Release: Gray Panthers, Consumers to Seek Help with Questions Left Unanswered; Abbott Laboratories Avoids Public Discussion of Synthroid Safety
June 23, 2001
Mary Shomon
Thyroid Patient Advocate
June 23, 2001
Letters to the Editor
The Wall Street Journal
200 Liberty St.
New York, N.Y. 10281
By E-mail: letter.editor@wsj.com
Dear Editor:
In her letter to the editor ("Synthroid Has Record of Safety and Efficacy," June 20, 2001) Dr. Rhonda Cobin, President of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists states:
"while the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists does not endorse specific products, the 3,700 physicians in our organization, all specialists in thyroid disease, have found that Synthroid has a long record of safety, efficacy, reliability and consistency..."
It's important to mention, however, that in this apparent endorsement, Dr. Cobin failed to note that her organization has a long-standing financial relationship with the manufacturers of Synthroid, a levothyroxine drug that has not yet applied for or received FDA-approval. (Synthroid's sponsorship of AACE can be verified at the AACE website sponsor page, http://www.aace.com/sponmain.htm). Synthroid also prominently features a supportive press release issued by AACE on the home page of their promotional www.synthroid.com website.
As the patient advocate quoted in the original article ("FDA Questions Safety and Efficiency of Abbott's Popular Thyroid Drug," June 1) and referred to in Dr. Cobin's letter, ensuring that the millions of thyroid patients in the U.S. get the unbiased information they need to live and feel well is my top priority. To that end, patients need to be aware that there are already two FDA-approved levothyroxine products available on the market -- Levoxyl and Unithroid. Patients may wish to note that the manufacturers of these FDA-approved thyroid drugs are not listed as sponsors of AACE.
Mary Shomon
Thyroid Patient Advocate
Author: Living Well With Hypothyroidism: What Your Doctor Doesn't Tell You...That You Need to Known (HarperCollins, 2000)
Source: Mary Shomon
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