The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 270 No 7252 p783
7 June 2003

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Generics [UK] (www.genericsuk.com)
European Union (PDF 270K)

CFC salbutamol inhalers will go soon

Metered-dose inhalers containing salbutamol with a chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) propellant will soon disappear from the market. Whether this will be because they are made illegal or because manufacturers stop making them is not yet clear.

The Department of Health is currently in discussion with the European Commission about a letter the commission sent to manufacturers in November last year. This said that the United Kingdom had determined that salbutamol CFC inhalers are no longer essential in terms of the Montreal Protocol banning the use of CFCs. This is because there are at least two non-CFC formulations on the market.

In consequence, a prohibition on marketing salbutamol CFC inhalers would be brought in with effect from 30 June 2003, the EC said.

Isabel Izzard, principal pharmacist at the Department of Health, said that the Department has asked the commission to clarify what it means by this. On 3 June she said: "We are still waiting for clarification."

However, it seems likely that salbutamol CFC inhalers will soon disappear anyway, because manufacturers are withdrawing them from the market. So far as The Journal has been able to ascertain, only Generics (UK) and Arrow Generics still have them available. Arrow is phasing them out and only has a few weeks' supply left. However, Richard Saynor, managing director of Generics (UK), said that while his company has stopped making CFC inhalers, it intends to keep selling its existing stock in response to demands from patients and pharmacists. 3M Health Care, one of the last manufacturers to have a branded CFC product, is to phase out its Aerolin Autohaler from later this month.

Ms Izzard said that the Department would write to health professionals once it knows what the EC wanted to happen. Until then, she said: "We don't want to cause panic. We're just concerned that patients are transferred to CFC-free products and get the counselling they need."

The main difference that patients notice when their inhalers are changed is that the spray tastes different and feels different in the mouth.

Letters, p792

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