2012 Inhaled Corticosteroids on the market

Inhaled corticosteroids continue to be a top line option for treating asthma.  As of January 30, 2012, the following are options available to asthmatics:

• Aerobid
• Azmacort
• Qvar
• Flovent HFA
• Azmanex Twisthaler

According to the FDA.gov, any one of the above will work to control asthma.  An interesting thing to note is that the FDA mentioned that every new inhaled corticosteroid to hit the market since beclomethasone in 1960 was just a little stronger and a little safer than the one before it.  If this is true, Azmanex would be the best inhaled corticosteroid.  It's also available in the combination inhaler Dulera (a medicine similar to Advair and Symbicort).

Another neat thing to mention is that the HFA propellant appears to be finer than the CFC propellant, which means the inhaled corticosteroids may get deeper into the lungs to provide better distribution of the medicine.  This has been proven by some studies.  Some hardluck asthmatics have been experimenting taking a few puffs a day of Qvar to go along with their Advair, or Symbicort, or Dulera.

I believe at the present time there will soon be another inhaled steroid on the market, and I think there are already attempts being made to have it released in a combination inhaler with fluticasone (Flovent).  Fluticasone is presently combined with Salmeterol (Sevevent) in Advair.