# Brand name vs Generic



## darlisar (Aug 1, 2010)

Hi, I am curious if there is a difference between Levothroid(made by Forest Pharmaceuticals) and Levothyroxine sodium(Mylan Pharmaceuticals). I received a letter stating that my daughters(14 yrs old) Levothroid is currently unavailable and has been switched to the Levothyroxine tablets. It does state to finish what she has and then start the new pills and after starting them to have labs done 4-6 weeks after. She has just recently been able to get her levels down and kept down since May/June after them continuing to increase for prob a good 8 months to a year. And since her levels have stayed down her appetite has decreased and she has been able to lose 2lbs the first month. She takes 125mcg.


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## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

darlisar said:


> Hi, I am curious if there is a difference between Levothroid(made by Forest Pharmaceuticals) and Levothyroxine sodium(Mylan Pharmaceuticals). I received a letter stating that my daughters(14 yrs old) Levothroid is currently unavailable and has been switched to the Levothyroxine tablets. It does state to finish what she has and then start the new pills and after starting them to have labs done 4-6 weeks after. She has just recently been able to get her levels down and kept down since May/June after them continuing to increase for prob a good 8 months to a year. And since her levels have stayed down her appetite has decreased and she has been able to lose 2lbs the first month. She takes 125mcg.


It may be wise to counsel about this w/your daughter's doctor. There "are" differences in these medications.


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## lainey (Aug 26, 2010)

> . I received a letter stating that my daughters(14 yrs old) Levothroid is currently unavailable and has been switched to the Levothyroxine tablets.


Unavailable? But yes, there are odd reports on the internet that Forrest is having problems with this drug. Is this a standalone pharmacy or mail order?

They are basically switching her from the brand to the generic, as you have surmised. This can cause changes in her lab numbers, and there is no guarantee that later on the manufacturer of the generic that the pharmacy uses will not change from Mylan to someone else.

I would call the doc and inquire. Given that she has only been stable such a short time, this is a change. Perhaps you can change to another brand such as synthroid.


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## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

lainey said:


> Unavailable? Is this a standalone pharmacy or mail order?
> 
> They are basically switching her from the brand to the generic, as you have surmised. This can cause changes in her lab numbers, and there is no guarantee that later on the manufacturer of the generic will not change from Mylan to someone else.
> 
> I would call the doc and inquire. Given that she has only been stable such a short time, this is a change. Perhaps you can get the levothroid through another pharmacy.


Forest Pharmaceuticals; FDA is cracking down on them again. We did not have Armour for 18 months. They were under the Grandfather Clause of sorts.

The good news is that in my opinion, Armour is now better than ever. So, hopefully the same will be true for the Levothroid.


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## darlisar (Aug 1, 2010)

We have Kaiser. Actually after checking the bottle while typing my original post to make sure I had her dosage correct I noticed that when we got her refill on the 11th, she got the new med(Levothyroxine) and wasn't made aware. I'm glad i got the letter in the mail.


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## CA-Lynn (Apr 29, 2010)

For what it's worth, I take a drug for my RA.......it's a generic drug used also for cancer. The ONLY pharmaceutical company that makes it that doesn't make me sick is Mylan. The rest of the pharmaceutical companies add some fillers to this drug that really upset my stomach badly. So I do like Mylan products.


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## lizzm (May 21, 2012)

I work at CVS we have been unable to order Levothroid for last 3 weeks it's unavailable with no known date that of when it will become available. I am pretty sure that it has something to do with the recall a couple of months ago some lots had less of the active ingredient than they should have... I'll check the emails at work tomorrow and see if we still have all the info


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