Why is Armour Thyroid medication so expensive?

Armour Thyroid, a brand name of natural desiccated thyroid, was owned for a many years by Forest Laboratories. Forest sold the drug to Actavis, which was then acquired and folded into the pharmaceutical giant Allergan. Allergan is known for some big-name drugs, including Botox, Latisse, Restasis, Atonel, and others.

Here is a comment from Allergan when questioned about Armour thyroid price increase:

"Allergan does make business decisions that require a price increase of certain products because of the rising costs associate with producing medicines and ensuring they are available for patients. In the case of Armour Thyroid, Allergan has had to raise the price to support investments in the manufacturing process as well as development efforts for the product which are necessary to ensure supply to patients.

Allergan did increase the price of Armour Thyroid 50% on July 1st, 2015, bringing the weighted average cost (WAC) per pill to $0.63, while, Synthroid, has a WAC of $0.99 per pill. The price of Armour Thyroid is in line with the branded products in this category, and remains significantly lower than the average cost per pill of the other medicines in this space.

We encourage patients to speak with their doctors and insurance providers to find out more about their treatment options."