Combo Inhalers: Dulera Enters the Picture
Saturday, March 5, 2011 at 09:41PM
Hi Subscribers,
I hope the winter hasn't chilled off all your enthusiasm for the new year. It seems to be going by quite fast. A new combination inhaler became available last June and is positioned for the treatment of asthma in people age 12 or older. Since it contains a long-acting beta-adrenergic agonist (LABA) it has the same Boxed Warnings as Advair and Symbicort.
I am on the Merck Speakers Bureau and provide information to health care providers about this inhaler. I am also on GSK's Speakers Bureau (maker of Advair).
I use all three combination inhalers (Advair, Symbicort and Dulera) in practice. Whether I use one or another is based on the patient's medical history, age and prior experience with inhalers. Since we do not currently have ways of telling us which patient will have a good or bad response to a particular inhaler, it boils down to trial and error (I really despise error...).
I posted an article on HealthCentral about this new combination inhaler recently.
Here is the link: http://www.healthcentral.com/asthma/c/3989/132361/combination-control
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