Typically, these are patients who are taking Armour Thyroid, the prescription natural desiccated thyroid drug manufactured by Forest Laboratories. They are told by a pharmacist or a doctor that they can no longer get Armour Thyroid because:
- Armour Thyroid is off the market
- Armour Thyroid is no longer being sold
- Armour Thyroid has been discontinued
- Armour Thyroid has been banned by the FDA
The truth is, these patients are getting incorrect information. And sadly, this is happening regularly. In fact, most patients who take Armour are likely to hear this rumor from a pharmacist, doctor, or endocrinologist -- sometimes several times each year.
It's true that almost all medications have periodic recalls for potency or quality. Various brand name thyroid drugs, including Synthroid, Levoxyl and Armour, have all gone through temporary recalls in recent years. A manufacturing changeover affected supply of the thyroid drug Thyrolar at various dosages in recent years.
But such recalls affect a particular batch, or just a particular dosage size, for a specific period of time. They do not effectively remove a drug from the market for good.
No brand-name thyroid hormone replacement drug -- except for the short-time appearance and disappearance of levothyroxine drug Euthyrox --has "gone off the market" in the past decade. And the only drug threatened with removal by the FDA was actually the leading synthetic levothyroxine drug, Synthroid. (Read, Is Synthroid Going to Be Pulled Off the Market?)
So why are patients still being told that Armour Thyroid is "off the market?" Most recently, I just heard today from a patient whose pharmacist assured her that Armour was no longer available.
In some cases, the misinformation is just a mistake. A short-term availability or stocking problem may be misinterpreted as the drug "no longer being sold." Or a recall of one particular dosage is mistakenly thought to affect the entire product line.
But in some cases, it's clear that there are pharmaceutical company hijinks going on, as some doctors and pharmacists are known to tell patients that they heard that Armour is being discontinued, and they heard it from drug representatives -- who work for competing thyroid drug makers.
You can read Is Armour Thyroid Going Off the Market for an assessment of some of the reasons why competitors -- and even doctors themselves -- might deliberately mislead patients.
In the meantime, what steps can you take if you are told that Armour is "off the market?"
- First, you should check here at About.com's Thyroid site, and make sure you are signed up for my weekly newsletter. Because if there is reliable evidence that a thyroid drug is going off or on the market, you can be sure you'll hear the official news here at my site and in my newsletters.
- Second, insist that your pharmacist or doctor confirm the "rumor" with actual information from the manufacturer. Ask them to call Forest Pharmaceutical's Professional Affairs Department to verify any rumors. Forest's toll free number is 1-800-678-1605, ext.66297. (You may need to insist that the word of the drug distributor or a competing manufacturer's sales representative is not something upon which you wish to base your health decisions.)
- Third, verify yourself, just to be sure. Again, you can call Forest Pharmaceutical's Professional Affairs Department.
