More than two-thirds of 1,234 MedPage Today readers said the government overreacted by mandating the removal of the last over-the-counter asthma inhaler from the market, according to last week's survey results.
The product, Primatene Mist, will be taken off the market this year because its chlorofluorocarbon propellant is banned under an international treaty, in which the U.S. and 195 other countries agreed to stop sales of all products releasing CFCs into the atmosphere.
A common theme running through the 51 comments from readers was that the FDA's action was akin to swatting mosquitoes when greater, and more lethal forms of pollution, lurk in the world.
"Let us be serious! Focus should be on industrial-level [pollution] rather than removing an affordable relief to asthma sufferers," one physician commented.
Another reader lamented the exceptions regarding pollution given to the big three auto companies, but "not for patients with non-sexy illnesses." She added that "government regulations are not subtle nor thought through."
To many readers, the action by the government defies logic, summed up nicely by this anesthesiologist: "Well, another defeat of common sense by politically correct bureaucracy."
Overall, 66% of the responders said that Primatene Mist should be kept on the market. But 29% of the voters pointed out that Primatene Mist is an inferior product.
"The duration of action of Primatene Mist is about three minutes. It has little effect on an acute asthma attack," said one commenter.
And this pharmacist said, "I've seen too many ill-informed patients trying to rely on this crude, dated drug to control their asthma symptoms rather than seeking proper care through a physician."
In response to another commenter who said she liked having the option of Primatene Mist if her prescriptive inhaler ran out, the pharmacist added that "most states have a ruling in favor of pharmacists...to fill an emergency refill on any prescription, so long as it's not a psychotherapeutic or controlled drug without the prescriber's permission."
One woman complained that the government's removal of this product will likely increase visits to the ER for children who lose their inhaler.
But she was subsequently taken to task by another reader who said, "If you're the mother of a child with asthma and you don't have a back-up rescue inhaler in case the primary one gets lost, you aren't doing a very good job."
And another reader said there are many ways to ensure you don't run out of medication or forget to carry it with you. Unfortunately, "all require the application of 'common sense,' which is NOT available on prescription."
Several respondents noted the lack of generic albuterol, while others lamented the ineffectiveness of the "safer" albuterol. "I have to push it many times to get a dose, even after cleaning the medihaler. The pharmacy tells me there is nothing they can do. Another case of government gone mad," she wrote.
And of course, we had a few comments we could place in the X-files, such as: "None of this removal from the shelves has to do with the protection of the ozone. This is all about the money. I am quite sure there is some new asthma drug that is remarkably similar in make-up to the Primatene that is about to be introduced."