Imports “will always correspond to the Euthyrox formula”, identical to the last composition of Levothyrox distributed in France until 2017.
The distribution of the old formula of Levothyrox will continue in France in 2023, a news broadcast by patient associations and confirmed on Wednesday to AFP by the Ministry of Health and the Merck laboratory, which produces this drug. “We have confirmed that the Merck laboratory guarantees the supply of the French market with Euthyrox specialty for the year 2023“, indicated the general direction of health (DGS) to the AFP.
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“Imports will continue to come from production intended for the Russian market and will always correspond to the Euthyrox formula, strictly identical to the old formula of the Levothyrox specialty distributed in France until 2017“, we said from the same source. Patient associations, such as the French Association of Thyroid Patients (AFMT) or Thyroid Alert, have welcomed in recent days to have “obtained» this extension, the first emphasizing «a great relief for the 90,000 patients concernedwith this treatment designed for thyroid problems. In France, less than 100,000 patients are treated with the old formula, imported since the end of 2017 under the name of Euthyrox. The distribution of the old formula, which was to stop in 2020, has been extended several times, against the backdrop of a legal battle over the new formula. “For several years, Merck has responded positively to the request of the National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM) by temporarily and transitionally importing Euthyrox into France, strictly identical to the old formula of Levothyrox but intended for other markets“, underlined the laboratory for its part.
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Find “a lasting treatment”
“We agreed some time ago to extend these imports again, still temporarily, until the end of 2023added Merck. However, the laboratory insisted, for the attention of the health authorities, “on the need to support patients in finding the long-term treatment that best suits them, in order to avoid finding themselves in a situation of impasse the day this old formula will no longer be available at all“. The ANSM was indicted on Monday for “deception” in the file related to the new formula of Levothyrox, a month and a half after that of the French subsidiary of the German laboratory Merck for “aggravated deception“.
Read alsoLevothyrox: the Medicines Agency indicted for deception
At the heart of the matter: the new composition of the drug designed against thyroid problems, which arrived in France at the end of March 2017 and uses the same active ingredient, levothyroxine, but with new excipients. Between March 2017 and April 2018, some 31,000 patients suffering from headaches, insomnia, dizziness and other side effects blamed the new formula. A criminal investigation was opened in Marseille in March 2018 on this case.