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08
Jan 2019
Underactive thyroid patients missing out on vital drug following 60-fold price rise
According to recent research, thousands of female patients are going without a vital thyroid drug due to a cancellation in prescriptions following a 60-fold price increase.
The cost to the NHS of a four week course of liothyronine, which is used to treat hypothyroidism increased from under £4.50 to £258.19 in 2016 after the manufacturer used a loophole which allowed them to inflate the price.
The medication was ‘debranded’ in 2007, which enabled the manufacturer to avoid rules to stop companies increasing the price of drugs.
A study which has been published in the Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology has shown that since the increase in price, prescription of the drug has fallen alarmingly, meaning that patients in the poorest areas are now nearly 50 times less likely to be prescribed the drug than patients in more affluent areas.
Dr Peter Taylor, study leader, said “The most substantial changes in prescribing occurred in early 2016, coincident with substantial rise in costs.
“Over the period analysed, no major study or guideline has advocated a change in liothyronine prescribing. This substantial reduction in prescribing seems to have been largely driven by cost.”
The Thyroid Trust’s Lorraine Williams, said “The fact that people in poorer areas are least likely to get the treatment is disgraceful. There should be equality in the NHS.”
There are currently around three per cent of the population in the UK who suffer from an underactive thyroid. Symptoms include depression, weight gain and tiredness and women over the age of 40 are at the greatest risk.
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Posted by Tony May, Partner/head of Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.
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