Saturday, August 22, 2009

Why is there a shortage of desiccated thyroid (e.g. Armour thyroid, Thyroid (dessicated), Nature-Throid)

There is a lot of speculation about the reasons for the shortages of desiccated thyroid preparations. Typically drug shortages exist due to the discontinuation of a product by a manufacturer, raw ingredient shortage, manufacturing problems, or regulatory action by the FDA. In the case of the current desiccated thyroid shortage, it may be a combination of factors. The only manufacturer to provide information about the shortage is Forest who stated their shortage is due to a manufacturing change.

The shortage has required patients to switch to levothyroxine (T4), Cytomel (T3), or alternative desiccated thyroid preparations (if they can find them). Coordination of these switches should occur under the supervision of a physician to ensure appropriate monitoring. There is a small subset of patients unable able to use levothyroxine as they lack the ability to covert T4 to T3. A combination synthetic T4/T3 combination product is marketed but is also currently on backorder (Thyrolar, Forrest).

At the beginning of August the following preparations were experiencing shortages:
Thyroid (desiccated) 30 mg tablets (Major)
Thyroid (desiccated) 30 mg tablets, (Major)
Thyroid (desiccated) 60 mg tablets, (Major)
Thyroid (desiccated) 180 mg tablets, (Major)

Armour Thyroid 15 mg tablets, (Forest)
Armour Thyroid 30 mg tablets, (Forest)
Armour Thyroid 30 mg tablets, (Forest)
Armour Thyroid 30 mg tablets, (Forest)
Armour Thyroid 60 mg tablets, (Forest)
Armour Thyroid 60 mg tablets, (Forest)
Armour Thyroid 60 mg tablets, (Forest)
Armour Thyroid 90 mg tablets, (Forest)
Armour Thyroid 180 mg tablets, (Forest)
Armour Thyroid 180 mg tablets, (Forest)

Nature-Throid NT-3 194.4 mg (3 grain) tablets, (RLC)


The following products have been discontinued:
Thyroid (desiccated) 120 mg tablets, (Major)
Thyroid (desiccated) capsules (Bio-Tech Pharm)
Thyroid (desiccated) tablets (Qualitest)
Thyroid (desiccated) tablets (Time-Cap)



1 comment:

Anonymous said...

According to information I have gathered recently, there are indeed a few factors at play here. One is the fact that Forest's unexpected reformulation of Armour made the fda look at the the entire desiccated industy, thus placing it under review. the second has to do with a raw material shortage caused by American Labratories (ALI). They are the only supplier in the US of the raw material needed. I hope this helps some. Thanks