People suffering from asthma and other respiratory ailments will be forced to shell out more money to buy "green" inhalers beginning in the new year.
Since the United States signed on to the 1987 Montreal Protocol, U.S. drug companies must sell inhalers that use the propellant hydrofluoralkane, or HFA.
Environmentalists say the propellant used in traditional inhalers damages the ozone layer.
But the HFA inhalers are significantly more expensive.
Most of the new HFA inhalers cost between $30 and $60. Old inhalers cost between $5 and $25, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
The cost has some healthcare professionals concerned lower income people may cut back on their prescriptions. Inhalers are used by asthma, emphysema, chronic bronchitis and chronic obstructive disorder patients to deliver the drug albuterol for quick relief of symptoms associated with those diseases.
Old inhalers used chlorofluorocarbons to deliver the drug.
Some patients say the new inhalers are less effective in delivering relief.
1 comments:
Cost is not the only issue. The other more important issue is that these HFA inhalers DO NOT WORK!
Read the thousands of complaints:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/saveCFCinhalers/signatures.html
This particular petition has 4000 signatures and is growing everyday. There are also many complaints at consumer affairs:
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/health/hfa_inhalers.html
More complaints:
https://www.savecfcinhalers.org/Guestbook.php
http://www.askapatient.com/viewrating.asp?drug=20503&name=PROVENTIL-HFA
If you are unhappy with the new HFA inhalers, kindly sign the petition to save CFC inhalers.
http://www.savecfcinhalers.org
The National Campaign to Save CFC Asthma Inhalers
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