ASTHMA Sufferers: Are you OUTRAGED about the new HFA (no CFC) inhalers (Pro Air)?
Question:
or,
They make Asthma symptoms WORSE.
They are much more expensive.
The FDA KNEW that it won't be until 2016!!! until Big Pharma is expected to come up with a same-priced version of the old Warrick albuterol generic version!
Did they do this for the Pharmaceutical industry as a favor to make up for falling profits of rescue inhalers due to Advair and Singulair
and used the Ozone Montreal Protocol as an excuse to cover their scoundrel corpo-government tracks?
The albuterol inhalers are the 7th most prescribed drug in the US,
with the new cost, Big Pharma is bound to make BILLIONS off of asthma sufferers in the next decade.
Do you wonder what the FDA's cut is?!!
Answers:
I'm tending to lean toward your prospective. I'm a pharmacist, and we used to dispense tons of the old warrick albuterol. and within the last 12 months, i've recieved dozens of complaints about proair, proventil hfa, and ventolin hfa. it's starting to get really fishy. Keep letting people hear your voice!
My Salbutamol inhaler is HFA, and although I haven't used a CFC inhaler, I can tell that mine doesn't work as well when it gets warm or humid. I've been having a terrible time with my asthma in the last couple weeks. Usually, I give myself one or two treatments a week, now it's often twice a day. I do things that regular people shouldn't do, so I started using Spiriva that I had left over from when my asthma was over diagnosed.
My Salbutamol (Ratiopharm brand) were $15/each in Canada. Aside from the fact that it isn't working particularly well at this time, I'm pretty happy with it.
When people go on Advair, Symbicort, etc.. they still must carry a rescue inhaler. It makes sense that fewer inhalers would be sold because of this, but long-acting combination medications have been around for about 15 years and inhalers are still very common with pulmonary patients.
If you think that your rescue inhaler is a rip-off, my Advair 500/50 was $150 for 60 doses, while my Spiriva was $3 a dose. That amounts to $150/month for Advair and $90/month for Spiriva. I think that's excessive. The drug companies are making huge profits off those drugs.
As a Respiratory Therapist, I think that medications presently available are better than those of the past. The switch from CFC to HFA might have been a questionable move, considering the number of people on this site complaining that their inhaler doesn't work right. It possibly is a difference in the nature of aerosol produced with HFA. The cloud is warmer and slower than with CFC. My theory is that higher temperatures and humidity are reducing the effectiveness of our inhalers. They will probably work better in the fall.
i live in Ireland and we have had CFC free inhalers available for years, they look, taste, cost and perform exactly the same as the other ones!!
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