Primatene Mist

[Sparda29]

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What do you guys think about the FDA's decision to ban this drug because it upsets some tree huggers? So it uses hydroflourocarbon, a CFC that depletes the ozone layer.

There is no alternative for this medication in the OTC market, and there are no other epinephrine inhalant alternatives.

Not only that, they are forcing drug companies to switch to non-CFC propellent inhalers. This is gonna increase cost for the companies, which will increase costs for the patients.

It's gone by the end of 2008, so start stockpiling people.

 

[Garfield3d]

I think it is a good call. Our specialty and focus on medicine does not excuse us from the concerns and responsibilities dictated by society. I am hardly an expert on this stuff, but if the industry cares enough, I imagine it would develop an alternative.

I do have a question though. If HFA products exist (such as Proventil HFA), what is stopping the industry from making more HFA-based products, such as Primatene Mist? It is likely that this will increase the cost of the drug (since, well, CFCs are nice and cheap), but this still means that the inhaler is still available in some capacity. If the price truly is restrictive, maybe the government could subsidize the cost of them?

--Garfield3d

 

[CaptainPicard]

This is good old Wyeth at work. They've long known about this issue and currently claim that a substitution won't be ready until 2011. I'm willing to bet that they dragged their feet on this in order to maximize profits.

Wyeth is also the sole manufacturer of coral snake antivenin in the US. They stopped making it a while back, and our supplies will be gone this October. Wyeth put profit before health in this case, so I don't trust them on the Primatene Mist issue.

And it wasn't "tree huggers" who decided this. Scientific evidence shows the importance of the ozone layer.

 

[Sparda29]

Actually, there are generic versions of Primatene available but they too are deployed via CFC propellants.

Some doctors have been claiming that epinephrine is unnecessary and that patients are better off with albuterol.

 

[Alby]

In my experience (I have stress induced asthma), albuterol works much better anyway.

Protecting the environment is our (as humans) responsibility. Change is necessary, but not always easy.

Most pharma companies know about issues well in advance and ignore them until the last minute and panic mode sets in... this is currently the case with the new Residual solvents chapter (USP General Chapter <467>) that goes effective 07/01/08. It affects all pharmaceutical products which contain raw materials that are likely to have residual solvents (due to manufacturing, side reactions, purification steps etc). Most companies are just now verifying USP methods, which don't work for some solvents, but they have known about this for years.

 

[Sparda29]

Other than that, what happens to the people who use epinephrine for rapid amounts of energy. I use it just before playing paintball.

 

[bananaface]

The makers of the product have had YEARS of notice about the discontinuation of CFCs as propellants. They chose not to reformulate. The FDA did not choose for them.

 

[genesis09]

The FDA has even pushed back the date for the phase out of CFCs. The initial law/treaty was passed like 20 years ago.

 

[Farmercyst]

It's not just pharma. Anything requiring large amounts of capital to switch run into the same problems. Auto industry with EPA restrictions, digital television (weren't analogs supposed to have been gone 3 years ago now.) I think they call it corporate/industrial inertia. Nonetheless if you're using it just for energy before paintball I don't think very many people are gonna be feeling sorry you can't artificially stimulate yourself for pleasure.

 

[collegegirl247]

the package for albuterol inhaler arms (17 gram) says that in the future the same thing will happen to them...i'm not sure what it says word for word..

 

[collegegirl247]

here is some more information


Why Are CFC Inhalers Being Phased Out?
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has told makers of albuterol inhalers that they must stop using the ozone-depleting propellants called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which send albuterol into the lungs.
Manufacturers have already begun to make or ramp up production of CFC-free inhalers, also called hydrofluoroalkane (HFA) inhalers, in advance of the December 31, 2008 deadline.
This decision resulted from the United States’ participation in the Montreal Protocol, a 1987 international treaty to eliminate the production and consumption of ozone-depleting chemicals. The American Lung Association led the successful effort to have metered-dose inhalers (MDIs) exempted from the Montreal Protocol in 1994, to give inhaler manufacturers time to develop CFC-free devices and provide an adequate transition time for patients and doctors.
http://www.lungusa.org/site/pp.asp?c=dvLUK9O0E&b=2222599