The Food and Drug Administration's warnings cover the drugs Advair, Symbicort, Foradil and Serevent. The FDA said they should be used only by asthmatics who can't control their lung disease with other medications -- and then only for the shortest time possible.
Nor should LABA-containing drugs ever be used without simultaneous use of a different asthma-controlling medication, such as an inhaled corticosteroid -- a move that specifically targets two of the drugs, Foradil and Serevent, the FDA said.
Why? These four drugs contain an ingredient that relaxes muscles around stressed airways, called a long-acting beta agonist or LABA. While they're very helpful at preventing day-to-day symptoms for some patients, the way LABA-containing drugs work also sometimes masks that inflammation is building in the airways. That means patients may not realize a serious asthma attack is brewing until they're gasping for air.
TVNL Comment: The use of Advair almost killed Jesse Richard, the editor of TvNewsLIES.org. It took over a year to get off the drug. Advair increased the severity of his asthma to the point of not being responsive to rescue inhalers. Since being weaned off of Adviar he has not had a single life threatening asthma attack, although it is still chronic.
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