The FDA has given itself sweeping new powers to pull medications creating False Rx Scarcity

I am unsure if this is the place to post this.

The FDA has given itself sweeping new powers to pull medications creating False Rx Scarcity

The FDA is leaving hundreds of thousands of thyroid patients twisting in the wind by pulling prescriptions from the market that aren't made by "Obama Friendly" companies. Effective medications used to treat thyroid conditions for over 103 years are being pulled by the Obama FDA and forced to go through the process of re-applying as NEW DRUGS! Will this spread to other "new" drugs... Like aspirin? Is this happening to other patients using other drugs? Will the administration take over healthcare incrementally by taking away one vital drug at a time and having it replaced with one marketed by an administration-supportive company? Has "imminent domain" come to prescription drugs now, at the expense of the health of American's and/or patients around the world? ALARMING!

thyroid.about.com...

thyroid.about.com...

thyroid.about.com...


From the last link, right before the thyroid medication was pulled from the market:
"...In pulling a drug off the market, the FDA, however, considers whether there are "legally marketed products" that can meet the needs of patients taking the drug. And it's no secret that the major endocrinology organizations, including the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, and the American Thyroid Association, both insist that levothyroxine is the treatment for hypothyroidism, and they specifically do not recommend desiccated thyroid. (It's also no secret that those groups and many of their members are beneficiaries of grants, financial support, and research funding from the makers of levothyroxine drugs. But that's another issue.)

Making the situation even more concerning is the fact that Dr. Sidney Wolfe, editor of the WorstPills.org website, and co-founder -- along with Ralph Nader -- of Public Citizen's Health Research Group, was appointed earlier this year to a four-year term on the FDA's Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee. The committee's role is to counsel the FDA regarding the safety of certain drugs. Wolfe is a major opponent of natural desiccated thyroid, and while remaining woefully uninformed about the drug -- at one point Wolfe even publicly stated that desiccated thyroid on the market today is from bovine (cow) rather than porcine (pig) thyroid -- he has campaigned against desiccated thyroid. Now he's in a position to help get it taken off the market..."

[edit on 8/27/2009 by michael]

reply to post by michael


This is eugenics pure and simple. Without correct medication thyroid patients are sitting ducks for obesity and viruses. They want thyroid patients to die of man made swine flu or the poison vaccine!

[edit on 27-8-2009 by eradown]

reply to post by michael


The FDA must become a thing of the past or we will all be forced to make our own medications. I have no use for the people behind this. Karma needs to give those responsible a swift kick to the rear.

[edit on 27-8-2009 by eradown]

reply to post by michael


I anticipated this kind of move from our dear leaders. That is why I'm making medicine the old fashioned way. I recommend others do the same and soon!

reply to post by michael


This is NOT good. I'm a pharmacist, I work at a hospital, and until I read that on about.thyroid.com, I had NOT heard of this at all. Not only is this terrible for patients, but it's terrible for me, because I take Armour thyroid.

I do NOT have a thyroid gland...I was born that way....I need natural thyroid. Synthetic thyroid doesn't work for me.

I've tried Synthroid, but it turns me into a raving maniac because it has no t3. I've tried combining synthroid with cytomel (t4 and t3) but my moods still swing. This is NOT good....not good at all.

I switched to Synthroid originally when I went vegetarian (because dessicated thyroid is made from pigs thyroid), but synthroid does NOT work for some people. Why? Because the brain only has receptors for t3, and not t4, and if you don't convert well.....well, your brain gets starved of t3, and your moods swing up and down, or you get depressed.

Holy hell.... I just got my moods under control these last few years and now I have to go back to synthroid again??? This really pisses me off, because I'm a pharmacist and we have not been notified of this AT ALL yet! I'm sure I'll hear about it at work next week.




[edit on 27-8-2009 by nikiano]

Oops, double post.

[edit on 27-8-2009 by nikiano]

reply to post by nikiano
So what exactly can people who are hypothyroidal do. Should they start ordering pig and cow thyroids from slaughter houses claiming they need them in order to make thyroid casserols. Will hypothyroidal people need to take up hunting in order to attain thyroid glands ? If we buy this in Mexico will we be arrested like drug runners? I am not trying to be silly. It is impossible to function without a thyroid or effective thyroid medicine. A home remedy must be found.



[edit on 27-8-2009 by eradown]

reply to post by nikiano


This is indeed bad news for anyone even close to having their thyroid problem under control. As a pharmacist, I am sure you understand the profit angle for the drug companies, and as a patient, you know what havoc this will wreak on you own life. I hope people find out about this and raise some cain!

reply to post by michael


Yup...that's why I also am a hypnotherapist and why I started studying homeopathy. I became disillusioned with the drug companies soon after I became a pharmacist, but I still wanted to help people.

So, now I also help them by doing hypnosis, and recommending homeopathic remedies when appropriate.

I used to always recommend natural thyroid to people who still felt like crap on Synthroid...but it seems that's about to change...

[edit on 27-8-2009 by nikiano]

I found good news....seems that the problem is only related to Armour thyroid, because Forest pharmaceuticals tried to reformulate their product without applying for an NDA from the FDA.....big no no! Forest pharmaceuticals just shot themselves in the foot by doing that. They should have known better....

If you take Armour thyroid and cannot get it due to a backorder problem, Naturthroid is still available.....as far as I can tell.

See this blog for more information: www.stopthethyroidmadness.com...

I don't mind using another natural thyroid formulation, but I will NOT go back to Synthroid.

I'll do some more research on this at work and let you guys know what else I find out.

[edit on 27-8-2009 by nikiano]

[edit on 27-8-2009 by nikiano]

Originally posted by nikiano
I found good news....seems that the problem is only related to Armour thyroid, because Forest pharmaceuticals tried to reformulate their product without applying for an NDA from the FDA.....big no no! Forest pharmaceuticals just shot themselves in the foot by doing that. They should have known better....

If you take Armour thyroid and cannot get it due to a backorder problem, Naturthroid is still available.....as far as I can tell.

I don't mind using another natural thyroid formulation, but I will NOT go back to Synthroid.

Yes, we may find out that Forest reformulating their product is what caused their problems. And I know that for myself, the reformulated drug isn't working. I was considering making the change to Nature-throid, but you can't get that right now either.

Biotech, TimeCap Labs, and now Major have all had to stop their desiccated thyroid drug production. American Laboratories has issued a statement that their is a severe shortage of natural desiccated thyroid raw materials.

thyroid.about.com...

Armour has no date for when their product may be back on the market. As of 8/26/09, Nature-throid has a date of 90 days till it will be available. No one knows yet if the FDA has contacted Forest and RLC about a New Drug Application or Abbreviated New Drug Application for their medications.

Luckily, I never had to use Synthroid. It took a long time for me to find a doctor that would listen to me when I KNEW something was wrong. And then it took several doctors until I found one that actually knew what to test and how much Armour to give me. I have been slipping back into the symptoms I had before, and it is scary! I don't want a synthetic drug. I want natural thyroid!

Thank you for posting this information. I usually keep close tabs on what's happening with dessicated thyroid medicine since I take it and since there are have ongoing availability issues with it. I wasn't aware of this information you posted since it's been several weeks since I did any research on the subject.

I take Armour thyroid and have been for many years now. This natural dessicated thyroid medicine has made such a difference in the quality of my life. When I was taking synthetic T3 and T4 (Cytomel and Levoxyl), I felt like crap. Almost all of symptoms went away when I started taking natural dessicated thyroid.

That's not to say I don't have problems related to my hypothyroidism and Hashimoto's Disease, but the symptoms I have now are minor compared to when I was taking synthetic thyroid medicine.

Anyway, I wonder how long it will take for the FDA to approve the new drug application for Thyroid USP powder,. There's already shortages of natural dessicated thyroid medicine, and without production of Thyroid USP powder, none of these dessicated thyroid medicines can be made. If the FDA doesn't approve the new drug application quickly for Thyroid USP powder, I suspect it won't be long before the current supplies of natural dessicated thyroid medicine are unavailable.

For those of us who have found synthetic thyroid medications to ineffective in managing our symptoms, we may be facing difficult days ahead if we are unable to purchase the natural dessicated thyroid medication that we are prescribed to manage our thyroid problems.

reply to post by nikiano


I've had what appears to be my own problems with my thyroid and roughly about once a year, my doctor has my blood drawn to test it. Always the same BS form I have to sign because medicare won't pay for the test?

I was told several years ago that I was exposed to a higher than normal level of radiation. I think it was some type of blood screening for toxin history exposure.

At any rate, since you've been a vegetarian and have this problem, what diets and supplements have you found to be helpful?

I had read a few months ago about virgin coconut oil being good for the thyroid and immune system.

www.coconutdiet.com...

Maybe you can start a thread on this topic, since you have all of this experience.

I had tried a meatless diet and got really sick to the point of being life threatening. I know I wasn't following any known diet program, since I have reactions to so many foods, but it still spooked me from the vegetarian diet.

Too bad I didn't have help from a professional. My medicare won't pay for a dietitian, unless I'm diabetic already.

As for the OP, I do feel strongly about changes in the way pharmaceutical companies and their investors are scaming and screwing the rest of us.

The thought that the government would take a medication that's now cheaper on the market, off the market to repackage it as new, is another major cause for street protests.

If Obama really is for the people, I think we may be in for a repeat of 1963 by the corporates.

As much as I had hoped it wouldn't be the case, it looks like the FDA is indeed going to pull all natural desiccated thyroid medicines until New Drug Applications are done. Apparently they consider the medications currently on the market as being sold "illegally", and that the doctors and pharmacists just don't know yet that they don't have FDA approval.

www.facebook.com...

reply to post by michael


One might ask: WHY is there a "nationwide shortage of descicated pig thyroid" used to make this medicine? WHERE is it all going? WHO exactly might have a massive alternative demand for the thyroids of pigs? And just why is the govt in the middle of it, keeping it out of the private pharmaceutical manufacturing market???

Originally posted by pumpkinorange
reply to post by michael

 

One might ask: WHY is there a "nationwide shortage of descicated pig thyroid" used to make this medicine? WHERE is it all going? WHO exactly might have a massive alternative demand for the thyroids of pigs? And just why is the govt in the middle of it, keeping it out of the private pharmaceutical manufacturing market???

Some people need dessicated thyroids just to function.Those people are being given the shaft. They may one day need to start raising their own livestock.They may need to learn how to cook thyroids until they turn into dust and use this for medicine. For now they can buy their medicines from compounding pharmacies.



[edit on 29-10-2009 by eradown]