Learn About The FDA's Ban of NDT Thyroid Hormone Replacement
Audio Message
From Elle Russ
FDA ban of NDT Thyroid Hormone Replacement August 2025
As you may know, the FDA has announced plans to remove all natural desiccated thyroid (NDT) medications from the market within the next 12 months. This action would force over a million patients off therapies that, for many, are the only effective option for restoring their health and quality of life. This includes Armour Thyroid, Naturethroid, NP, etc.
In response, myself and other thyroid experts have formed the Thyroid Health Alliance—a unified coalition of clinicians, patient advocates, and industry leaders—committed to protecting access to these essential medications. Together, we are amplifying our voice to ensure patient choice, safety, and science remain at the forefront of thyroid care.
Join Our Coalition
Excerpt From my #1 bestselling book - The Paleo Thyroid Solution
A Brief History of NDT
"In 1891 an English physician, Dr. George Redmayne Murray - pioneered the treatment of endocrine disorders by injecting hypothyroid patients with sheep thyroid extract—and it worked! Later on, pigs became the main source of thyroid hormone replacement, and one of the most optimal thyroid hormone replacement options today is the use of desiccated pig thyroid gland, referred to as NDT. Until the 1950s, NDT, which contains T4 and T3, was the standard hormone replacement option for hypothyroidism.
In 1914 a man who later discovered the activity of cortisone first isolated the thyroid hormone T4. Around 1926 synthetic T4 was produced and used in an experiment with two women whose hypothyroid symptoms improved with the administration of T4. In the 1950s pharmaceutical companies could not patent NDT, but they could patent T4, so they did, igniting one of the most profitable marketing campaigns to date. According to IMS Health, the top pill popped in America is Synthetic T4, with 23 million brand-name (Synthroid) prescriptions alone filled every year.
The campaign selling point was that Synthroid (T4-only) was the only recommended treatment for hypothyroidism and that NDT was unstable and uncontrollable. Hypothyroid patients began to suffer at the hands of this unethical business move for the sake of profit ever since Synthroid was created in 1958. Patients are still suffering under the outdated and false premise from a pharmaceutical company that continues to infect the practices taught in medical school.
While Synthroid was being promoted as the one-size-fits-all medication for hypothyroidism, false and negative claims about NDT emerged in several medical articles and journals. They were later identified as hoaxes, but the damage was done; NDT became an exile until its resurgence in the 1990s. In fact, even today most endocrinologists will still tell you that NDT is unstable and meant for pigs not humans, and they do not prescribe it to their thyroid patients. I challenge any reader to pick up the phone and call five random endocrinologists in any United States city and ask the nurse if the doctor prescribes NDT for treating hypothyroidism. It’s almost a guarantee that they will say no."
