Government advisors are recommending restrictions on some long-acting asthma drugs, but the restrictions do not include Advair, one of the top-selling asthma medications.
Outside experts advising the Food and Drug Administration say Foradil and Serevent should no longer be used for asthma. But they say the benefits of the more widely used Advair and Symbicort clearly outweigh the risks.
Each contains an ingredient that relaxes muscles around stressed airways. But that may mask symptoms that can trigger life-threatening asthma attacks. Advair and Symbicort contain a second ingredient that reduces inflammation inside breathing passages and may help patients avoid such problems.
For all four drugs, the FDA's drug safety experts had recommended restrictions, including not using them to treat asthmatic children. The agency's respiratory specialists disagreed, saying the risks were manageable.
With its own experts deadlocked, the FDA called in a panel of outside advisers. Those advisers said Advair and Symbicort should continue to be used with all patients, including children. The FDA usually follows the recommendations of its outside advisers.
The panelists were unanimous in recommending that Advair and Symbicort continue to be used with adults. It was a narrower vote on the question of whether those two drugs should be used for teenagers and children. Advair is approved for ages four an older and Symbicort for those at least 12.
The new head of the FDA's drugs office said that patients should not stop taking any of the medications without first consulting their doctors.
