An interesting report was released by Reuters Health that the new hydrofluoralkane(HFA) asthma inhalers could potentially give an elevated breath alcohol in a breathalyzer test. Investigators in Australia, Dr Deborah Yates and colleagues at St Vincent's College, Darlinhurst studied 16 asthma patients and 15 control patients, testing the effect of CFC inhalers, HFA-ethanol inhalers and placebo inhalers on the level of breathed alcohol concentration(BEC) on the breathlyzer test. They also investigated the effect of ingested alcohol on the test. Interestingly, there was a significant although transient, elevation of BEC, lasing about 5 minutes, after using the HFA inhaler.
So do we now not puff and drive?
The implications are interesting although short term, I think Leno or Letterman might be taking swipes at this more than anything else.
Anyway, this should not stop us from using these earth-friendly and effective asthma medications.
The link below can get you to the article's abstract.
Respirology 2009;14:112-116
Ozone-friendly inhalers could face early demise
ReplyDeletehttp://www.journalgazette.net/article/20090330/BIZ/303309942/1031/BIZ
Benefits vague, problems clear in inhaler ban
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20090330/BIZ/303309941
Asthma Patients Outraged at Indifference to Problems with New Inhalers:
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2009/02/asthma_hfa02.html
Olympian Jackie Joyner-Kersee: FDA "Insensitive" to Asthma Patients' Problems:
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2009/03/asthma_hfa04.html
The number of patient complaints is skyrocketing:
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/health/hfa_inhalers.html
Read the thousands of complaints at this petition:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/saveCFCinhalers/signatures.html
Patients at askapatient.com are reporting HFA inhalers as "useless" with a rating of 1.2 on
a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the best and 1 being the worst:
http://www.askapatient.com/viewrating.asp?drug=20503&name=PROVENTIL-HFA
You can only wonder if the FDA is trying to kill asthmatics:
http://www.opednews.com/populum/diarypage.php?did=11627
Also worth mentioning from the FDA website is the fact that a manufacturer of one of the HFA inhalers admits in it's own new drug application to the FDA that it's HFA based albuterol is less safe and effective than it's CFC based albuterol:
http://www.fda.gov/cder/foi/nda/2001/20-983_Ventolin-HFA_medr_P1.pdf
These quotes taken directly from the new drug application for Ventolin HFA.
"In the multiple dose adolescent and adult studies, albuterol HFA showed a numerically smaller improvement in FEV1 than was seen with albuterol CFC"
"There was other evidence that the HFA formulation delivers a lower/less effective dose on a per acutation basis than the CFC product. In the single dose, dose ranging study in adults, and in the single dose methacholine challenge study in adults one and two acutations of albuterol CFC were statistically indistinguishable in terms of effect, whereas significant differences were seen between one and two acutations of albuterol HFA. Finally, the combined adolescent/adult studies showed that the HFA formulation had a longer median time to onset of effect(4.2-9.6 minutes versus 3.6-4.2 minutes), had a shorter duration of effect(1.55-3.30 hours versus 2.29 - 3.69 hours), and was associated with more albuterol 'back up' use than the CFC formulation."
"We note that in the two 12 week clinical trials in adolescents and adults, Ventolin HFA Inhalation Aerosol consistently showed a smaller effect size than Ventolin CFC Inhalation Aerosol"
"Because it is expected that many physicians will prescribe Ventolin HFA Inhalation Aerosol for patients who have previously used the CFC formulation, it would be appropriate to include some description of the relative effectiveness of these two formulations in the product label."
"Unfavorable changes in physical examinations were observed in the ears, nose, and throat category as follows: 8% placebo HFA; 13% albuterol HFA; and 5% albuterol CFC."
The following false advocates have hung asthmatics out to dry as they are
not responding to any of the pleas for help:
American Lung Association
Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America
Allergy and Asthma Network Mothers of Asthmatics
American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology
Contact them for yourself and see how happy they will be to "help" you!