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REPORT CARD RESULTS
PDF Printer-friendly version of 2004 Thyroid Disease Report Card
Drug Companies: Abbott Laboratories, Forest Laboratories and King Pharmaceuticals
Grade: D
The thyroid drug companies have not exactly shown themselves to be particularly customer-focused in 2003. Abbott Laboratories has attempted to hang on to market share, by arguing that the methodology used to approve a “generic” version of levothyroxine – and in particular, their top-selling thyroid drug Synthroid -- is flawed, and that until the method is changed, no generic to Synthroid should be approved. Meanwhile, Synthroid is still inexplicably substantially more expensive than its competitors’ levothyroxine products in many markets. Since Synthroid has a virtual lock on the market with many endocrinologists, this leaves patients – and insurers – paying more for a product that hasn’t been shown to be any better than its competitors.
Forest Laboratories saw the FDA ban further production of their levothyroxine drug, Levothroid, because it had still failed to obtain FDA approval, a move ordered back in 1997 by the FDA. The company finally ended up getting back into the market by re-releasing Levothroid using Llloyd Pharmaceutical's FDA-approved levothyroxine formulation. FDA concerns about the manufacturing of Thyrolar, Forest’s synthetic T4/T3 drug, have resulted in stalled production, and a lack of availability throughout the nation, leaving patients high and dry, and the company refusing to provide an estimated date when the product will return to the market.
As for King Pharmaceuticals, all we have to say are two words: “Levoxyl recalls!” The company’s levothyroxine drug, the second most popular levothyroxine after Synthroid, has faced recall after recall in 2003, for various quality and potency problems, causing some patients to give up entirely and switch to other drugs.
