British woman in Limassol detained over thyroid meds

A British woman living in Limassol has been detained on Thursday after police found a large quantity of unlicensed metabolic medicine during a house search.

According to media reports, a 53-year-old woman in Lania was found to be in possession of 200 packs of Tiromel T3 with 100 25mcg tablets in each one, a synthetically manufactured prescription thyroid hormone.

Police on Friday declined to comment on the case. Knews understands authorities are in cooperation with the state’s Pharmaceutical Services while an investigation is pending.

The metabolic medicine found in Limassol was reportedly manufactured by Abdi Ibrahim Pharmaceuticals, a Turkish medical drug company and officials suspect the woman got the supply illegally from the northern part of Cyprus.

According to authorities in the Republic of Cyprus, people in the south are allowed to obtain medicine from the north as long as it is for private use, typically amounting to a month’s worth of supply. Commercial activity is strictly forbidden without a proper licence issued by state authorities.

Tiromel is a generic drug containing liothyronine sodium and contains T3 or Triiodothyronine. It is not licenced for sale in the south while T4 tablets or Thyroxine containing levothyroxine sodium are widely available.

T4 is produced by the thyroid gland and when it reaches organs and body tissue it converts to T3, the active form of thyroid hormone that can regulate metabolism.

T3 is often advertised as a more effective weight loss drug but a doctor’s prescription is required. Patients have writeen in online forums that many times they have bought several packs of T3 at a time, as they are difficult to get during shortages.

Online agents in countries such as Turkey, Greece, Cyprus, and Mexico have been supplying patients in the UK for years. However, the T3 from Mexico (Cytomel) has been described as stronger than Tiromel, narrowing down options for NHS patients even further.