Combo inhalers get PBAC approval for mild asthma
PBS funding now likely for Symbicort as a first-line therapy
The PBAC has declared budesonide-formoterol combination inhalers should be funded as a first-line treatment for mild asthma for adults and adolescents.
It is a reversal from the expert committee’s announcement in August last year that budesonide-formoterol inhalers had “uncertain” clinical benefits for patients with mild asthma and should not be subsidised by the taxpayer.
AstraZeneca, which filed the application for its combination inhaler Symbicort, was not deterred by the initial rejection and immediately filed a revised application for PBS funding.
The revamp appears to have satisfied the PBAC, which announced on 20 December that it would recommend that the Federal Government subsidise the inhaler as a first-line therapy.
