Is my Asthma Drug a
First or a Last Resort?
In this short article we will look at the
growing use of asthma medications, specifically the drugs that are
commonly prescribed and hence prevalent in the marketplace. In
addition, the viability of alternative or natural based asthma drugs,
also referred to as bio-ceuticals or nutri-ceuticals, will be
considered. Webster’s Dictionary defines pharmaceutical as a
“medicinal drug”. In the United States the legal
status of such drugs is left to the United States Food and
Drug Administration (FDA) to determine. Then the doctors who prescribe
them and pharmacists who issue them play their part and finally the
private citizens who take the asthma drugs have to determine the
ultimate efficacy.
Most asthma patients are not doctors or
scientists. They are struggling consumers who try to do the right
thing. In an area of such importance, you would want to do the right
thing – the first time. But the proliferation of
pharmaceutical asthma drugs in recent years is staggering. A partial
list of generic asthma drugs follows that serve as an example to show
the extent of product growth that this epidemic of asthmatic cases has
spawned.
Budesonide, Beclomethasone, Flunisolide,
Fluticasone, Salbutamol or Albutrerol, Salmeterol, Prednisone,
Prednisolone, Theophylline and Zileutron are a small number of the
products on the market. They come in every conceivable form, under
numerous brand and trade names - from tablet to capsule to gel cap to
solution to injection and ingestible syrups.
How it Works
In order for an asthma drug to get approved,
it goes through the same rigorous testing as other mainstream
pharmaceuticals. The FDA takes its job very seriously. But so do all
the pharmaceutical multi-national corporations that potentially stand
to make billions of dollars on a single successful new product.
Here already, before the product ever gets
to market, the negotiations are underway. If the signs are promising,
lab testing is pushed forward and the layers of bureaucratic
requirements are waded through by hoop jumping drug company specialists
- with the assistance of lobbyists and attorneys of course. And we
thought it was about finding a cure or at least an effective treatment
for another crippling disease.
Bio-ceuticals
and Nutri-ceuticals
Bio-ceuticals are typically made
from biological origin and may include powders, roots, tinctures and
concoctions. Nutri-ceuticals are more in the line of vitamins,
supplements and the like. Although these are not technically asthma
drugs, bio-ceuticals and nutri-ceuticals do represent medicinals and
reflect the interest of a growing number of health practitioners,
MD’s included. The range of products in the alternative
medicine arena is also soaring – driven by sincere efforts
and hopes of profit alike. It’s nice to know there are many
asthma drug options; choosing wisely is the challenge for the modern
consumer.
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