Push for asthma combo inhalers to go OTC
An application to down-schedule the medication comes as the asthma council updates its guidelines
Combination ICS-LABA inhalers for asthma could be sold over the counter (OTC) under a proposal being considered by the TGA.
The regulator announced on Wednesday it had received an application to downschedule a budesonide-formoterol inhaler to schedule 3 — the same day the National Asthma Council Australia formally published its advice to use combination inhalers as first-line treatment for mild asthma.
The TGA application claims the use of as-needed budesonide-formoterol was “well-established” and that pharmacists should be able to prescribe the therapy to a patient with a medical diagnosis of asthma.
The move would help “reshape behaviour” of patients over-relying on a SABA alone, it claimed.
