- Sep 26, 2000
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060124/ap_on_he_me/asthma_inhalers
FDA Panel Recommends Ban on Some Inhalers
Millions of nonprescription inhalers used for decades by asthma sufferers, often against the advice of doctors, could be taken off drugstore shelves because they contain propellants that harm the ozone layer.
An advisory panel voted 11-7 Tuesday to recommend that the Food and Drug Administration remove the "essential use" status that Primatene Mist and other similar nonprescription inhalers require to be sold, spokeswoman Laura Alvey said. Final revocation of that status would mean a de facto ban on their sale.
On Tuesday, Wyeth asked that the FDA stay any such ban on Primatene Mist until it is ready to market an approved CFC-free version, said its representative, Dr. Sumon Wason. Wyeth hopes to have such an inhaler ready for sale in 2009 or 2010, Wason added.
"We were asking for time to continue with the reformulation process," Wason said following the vote, adding that the company would try to negotiate a delay.
Many doctors question whether over-the-counter inhalers like Primatene Mist should even be sold. Most recommend the use of prescription albuterol inhalers.
One of the concerns with Primatene, which has been used since the 1960s, is its effect on the heart, said Tim Op't Holt, a respiratory therapist with Victory Health Partners, a Mobile, Ala., clinic for uninsured patients.
How clever. Use an envrionmental law to help the drug companies! The actual amount of cfc's is miniscule compared to the huge amounts we used to pump into the envrionment.
And Primatene is the only option for the poor or uninsured to get ANY help with their asthma.
Primatene is NOT the best treatment. Expensive, doctor prescribed Albuterol inhalers are.
But for many Primatene is the only option.
So lets ban it and have a couple of million asthma sufferers gasping for air. And maybe dying.
Big drug companies 1, Poor people 0.
FDA Panel Recommends Ban on Some Inhalers
Millions of nonprescription inhalers used for decades by asthma sufferers, often against the advice of doctors, could be taken off drugstore shelves because they contain propellants that harm the ozone layer.
An advisory panel voted 11-7 Tuesday to recommend that the Food and Drug Administration remove the "essential use" status that Primatene Mist and other similar nonprescription inhalers require to be sold, spokeswoman Laura Alvey said. Final revocation of that status would mean a de facto ban on their sale.
On Tuesday, Wyeth asked that the FDA stay any such ban on Primatene Mist until it is ready to market an approved CFC-free version, said its representative, Dr. Sumon Wason. Wyeth hopes to have such an inhaler ready for sale in 2009 or 2010, Wason added.
"We were asking for time to continue with the reformulation process," Wason said following the vote, adding that the company would try to negotiate a delay.
Many doctors question whether over-the-counter inhalers like Primatene Mist should even be sold. Most recommend the use of prescription albuterol inhalers.
One of the concerns with Primatene, which has been used since the 1960s, is its effect on the heart, said Tim Op't Holt, a respiratory therapist with Victory Health Partners, a Mobile, Ala., clinic for uninsured patients.
How clever. Use an envrionmental law to help the drug companies! The actual amount of cfc's is miniscule compared to the huge amounts we used to pump into the envrionment.
And Primatene is the only option for the poor or uninsured to get ANY help with their asthma.
Primatene is NOT the best treatment. Expensive, doctor prescribed Albuterol inhalers are.
But for many Primatene is the only option.
So lets ban it and have a couple of million asthma sufferers gasping for air. And maybe dying.
Big drug companies 1, Poor people 0.