Inhalers Going Green

By Medstar

M60o93H7pQ09L8X1t49cHY01Z5j4TT91fGfr Inhalers Going Green

Published: Tue, April 08, 2008 - 9:38 am
Last Updated: Tue, April 08, 2008 - 5:31 pm

Millions of Americans live with asthma and depend on their inhalers when breathing becomes difficult. 8-year-old Caileen Perez only needs her asthma inhaler during exercise.
"Sometimes when she's running the track at school, it can create some wheezing or exercise-induced asthma is what they call it."
Now Caileen's asthma inhaler has officially gone "green." It no longer uses CFC's. Instead it uses propellants called HFA's.
Eperts say patients won't experience that cold blast with the newer inhalers, but they still get the same, effective medicine.
"Wen they did the studies, they did show that people attain the similar amount of broncho-dilation that their lungs opened up after using the medicine.
So head to head, it works just as well as the others."
William Graham used his new inhaler a lot because of a recent bout of pneumonia. H noticed a couple of differences.
"Te taste is a little different, I think it does essentially the same thing."
Right now the biggest impact these new inhalers have is cost. currently there's no generic form available. And that's having a huge impact on William's wallet.
"It's a higher amount. I think I pay $22 instead of $3."
Caileen's mom also noticed the cost difference, but says it's a small price to pay for her daughter's well-being.
Dr. Lieberman stresses that while the new inhalers cost significantly more, patients who keep their asthma under control with prevention medicine should only use about one "rescue" inhaler a year.

FAST FACTS:
About 20 million Americans have asthma.
80 percent of asthma patients use some type of inhaler.
The traditional propellant for asthma inhalers, CFC, is being phased out and will no longer be available after December 31, 2008.
New, CFC-free devices contain the same drugs found in the older inhalers, but the medication can taste and smell differently. The new devices may also be more costly.

Patients who are having a hard time affording the inhalers should contact the drug manufacturer’s patient assistance program. Information on financial assistance for prescription medication is also available from the Partnership for Prescription Assistance at http://www.pparx.org, or by calling toll-free: (888) 4PPA-NOW (1-888-477-2669).

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