As Atlanta asthma patients cope with pollen season, one commonly used Rx is off the market

Metro doctor say that the Atlanta pollen season comes at a time when asthma patients are seeing higher prices and difficulty finding affordable appropriate treatments.

One factor in the affordability problem is the decision earlier this year to halt manufacture of Flovent, a popular inhaler used to manage asthma conditions.

GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK), the maker of Flovent reiterated in a Jan. 9 statement that it has begun selling a generic version of the drug. But insurance companies have not yet begun to cover the cost of the generic.

In a March 4 letter to GSK, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said the company had made the “go-to inhaler for children” inaccessible by charging more for the generic drug than for the name-brand version.

David Tanner, medical director and doctor at Atlanta Allergy & Asthma, said non-generic Flovent’s removal from the market has had an impact on patients.

“This is the time of year when people are being forced to change from one inhaler to another, and that creates havoc,” Tanner told the AJC. “There’s a generic, but a lot of the insurers don’t have it on their formulary.”