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FDA: Time for asthma patients to switch inhalers
Staff and agencies
29 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - Old-fashioned asthma inhalers that contain environment-harming chemicals will no longer be sold at year‘s end — and the government is urging patients not to wait until the last minute to switch to newer alternatives.
Chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, once were widely used to propel the drug into the lungs. But CFC-containing consumer products are being phased out because CFCs damage the Earth‘s protective ozone layer. As of Dec. 31, asthma inhalers with CFCs can no longer be made or sold in the U.S. Inhalers instead will be powered by ozone-friendly HFAs, or hydrofluoroalkanes.
Patients have been warned of the change for several years, but the Food and Drug Administration issued an advisory Friday saying anyone still using CFC inhalers should ask their doctor about switching now.
CFC-free albuterol inhaler options include GlaxoSmithKline‘s Ventolin HFA, Schering Plough‘s Proventil HFA and Teva Specialty Pharmaceuticals‘ ProAir HFA. Sepracor‘s Xopenex HFA is also CFC-free, but it contains levalbuterol, a similar medication.
(This version CORRECTS 6th graf to ProAir maker.)
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