Asthma Inhalers Scheduled to Go Green, Become More Expensive
Come December 31, all albuterol inhalers in the U.S. will be a little bit greener— and a lot more expensive. The inhalers will stop using chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) that damage the ozone layer, and will be powered by hydroflueroalkane (HFC) instead. While the new inhalers will benefit the environment, they will also cost $30 to $60. CFC inhalers cost only $5 to $10.
The HFC inhalers will be strange to albuterol veterans— the medicine tastes and feels different, and the inhaler’s hole needs to be cleaned weekly to prevent clogging.
For asthma sufferers that are averse to change, non-prescription epinephrine inhalers will contain CFCs until the government cracks down in December 2011. But replacing albuterol with epinephrine is dangerous, as the non-prescription drug is less effective.
The change may not be palatable to everyone, but asthmatics should take comfort in the fact that their medicine is no longer destroying the ozone layer.
Photo Credit: neilt on Flickr under Creative Commons license
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December 2nd, 2008 at 4:09 pm
I don’t understand how a drug like albuterol which has been generic for years can be, in effect, re-patented simply by changing the delivery mechanism slightly. Instead of many generic varieties being available, there are now only 3 and they’re all branded products:
Proventil, ProAir, and Ventolin.
December 2nd, 2008 at 5:57 pm
If I’m inhaling it, how are the CFC’s damaging the ozone? This smells of a money making scheme to this asthmatic.
December 2nd, 2008 at 7:35 pm
I feel so much better saving the planet than myself. When I am choking to death from an asthma attack,I will feel better dying this painful slow death so the planet can be green So much corporate crap!
December 2nd, 2008 at 7:48 pm
Great… even more money each month for preventative meds.
December 2nd, 2008 at 10:19 pm
Less effective inhalers to save the planet. Please do not worry about saving PEOPLE!!!! Give me a break, this is government sponsered corporate greed! These ‘green’ inhalers will mean death due to not being as effective so we can save a tree or two! Thank you Uncle Sam/Greedy Drug Companies!
December 2nd, 2008 at 11:15 pm
Teresa, if you didn’t exhale, the CFC’s wouldn’t be a problem. The way the inhalers work is like the way air fresheners, hairsprays, and other aerosols work; a fine powder is dispersed in a cloud of propellant and you inhale the cloud. The medicine part sticks to your airway and you exhale the rest. All the Metered Dose Inhaler (puffer) does is to make sure that the cloud contains just the right amount of medicine.
It really bites that the drug companies get to call it a “new” drug and sell it for as much as 10 times the old price. At the very least they should include some lubricant with every inhaler so we can ease the pain of being molested by the drug companies—again!
January 1st, 2009 at 3:49 am
What a freaking joke…so your inhaler use has been destroying the earth…….This has gone way way to far. These people who are pushing this earth changing agenda will one day make hitler proud and for some of you, you might know what I’m getting at here. This all has a goal of DEHUMANIZATION even in movies it blames too many humans for the earths cough. Soon as life extension is proven the blue bloods are going to get rid of most of us.
January 10th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
This government apparently doesn’t mind ignoring global warming, won’t sign the Kyoto Protocol,but is determined to allow the pharmaceutical corps to rip off asthma users by using the ‘environmental’ excuse. The tiny puff of cfc is probably negligible since most is probably in yout body tissue, but any corp profit is useful, at least more than asthma users.
May 21st, 2009 at 11:38 pm
the new inhalers just don’t work. if i can find the old ones online or the black market i will try and buy what i can. i’ve been on life support and i don’t like the idea of suffocating.