HFA Inhalers: To Fight Asthma And Ozone Depletion!

Traditional inhalers using Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) to propel inhaled drugs into the lungs will no longer be made or sold in the U.S. by the year ending December 31, 2008, because of rising concerns over Earth’s depleting ozone layer. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration also issued an advisory on Friday urging people to switch to newer alternatives seeking adequate doctoral support.

As Chlorofluorocarbons are known to damage the Earth's protective ozone layer, the U.S. Clean Air Act and an international treaty known as the Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer called for its discontinuation. Under provisions of the treaty, the United States has agreed to stop the production and import of products that can potentially damage the ozone layer.

Meanwhile, different from classical Albuterol inhalers that use chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) to propel the medicine into the lungs, the new asthma inhalers are powered by hydrofluoroalkane (HFA), which are ozone-friendly.

Though equally effective as the CFC inhalers, certain limitations in the HFA inhalers can make its acclimatization difficult, FDA states.

The hydrofluoroalkane may taste and feel different than the CFC inhalers. Also, HFA inhalers may feel softer than CFC inhalers. To combat the buildup of albuterol in the inhalers' nozzle, HFA inhalers will have to be primed and cleaned regularly to ensure that the medicine is properly reaching the lungs, health experts cautioned.

In addition as there's no generic HFA inhaler available yet, the patient has to part with an extra $20 per inhaler than existing generic CFC albuterol inhalers.

So far three HFA-propelled albuterol inhalers have been approved by the FDA:
• Proair HFA Inhalation Aerosol;
• Proventil HFA Inhalation Aerosol;
• Ventolin HFA Inhalation Aerosol.

In addition, an HFA-propelled inhaler containing levalbuterol, a medicine similar to albuterol, is available as Xopenex HFA Inhalation Aerosol, the FDA officials said.

However, Hydrofluorocarbons are different from the chlorofluorocarbons as they do not contain chlorine and thus do not react with ozone, they instead cause global warming, another environmental issue to be thought about.