Symbicort Generic
What Is Branded Symbicort?
Symbicort is a well-known drug used in pulmonology. It is produced in the form of an aerosol for inhalation. The main indications for its use are bronchial asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The pharmacotherapeutic group to which Symbicort belongs is called a combined bronchodilator (selective beta2-adrenergic agonist + local glucocorticosteroid). This medicine positively differs from many other drugs of this pharmacological group in that it contains two active substances, as follows from the word “combined”. These substances are Budesonide and Formoterol. In Symbicort, these substances are presented in the form of micronized budesonide and formoterol fumarate dihydrate. They have different mechanisms of action and show an additive effect in reducing the frequency of exacerbations of bronchial asthma and COPD.
Budesonide is a glucocorticosteroid (one of the steroid hormones produced in the adrenal cortex). After the patient inhaled, Budesonide has a rapid, dose-dependent anti-inflammatory effect on the respiratory tract that develops over several hours. This substance reduces the severity of symptoms and the frequency of exacerbations of bronchial asthma. At the same time, the inhaled form of the use of Budesonide, which Symbicort provides, contributes to a lower incidence of serious unwanted side effects than the use of systemic glucocorticosteroids. Budesonide helps to reduce swelling of the bronchial mucosa, mucus production, sputum production and airway hyperreactivity.
Formoterol is a selective beta2-adrenergic receptor agonist. After inhalation, Formoterol causes a rapid and prolonged relaxation of the smooth muscles of the bronchi in patients with reversible airway obstruction. The bronchodilator effect of this substance is dose-dependent, occurs quickly (within 1-3 minutes after inhalation) and continued for at least 12 hours after a single dose.
Branded Symbicort is produced by the Swiss branch of the British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca in the form of a metered-dose aerosol for inhalation in two dosage options: 80 mcg + 4.5 mcg in 1 dose and 160 mcg + 4.5 mcg in 1 dose. One inhaler in both cases contains 120 doses of the drug.
Is There A Generic Symbicort?
According to statistics from the US National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, about 25 million Americans today suffer from asthma, of which more than 5 million are children, and more than 16 million people suffer from COPD. Asthma is a chronic disease that affects the airways. In some patients, asthma is reduced by physical activity, and often this disease begins in childhood. Asthma can cause difficulty breathing, shortness of breath, and coughing. COPD, including emphysema and chronic bronchitis, is a chronic inflammatory lung disease that causes an obstruction (blockage) of the airways, resulting in difficulty breathing. In addition to stopping acute asthma attacks, patients need to take medications that help alleviate the background course of the disease. It is to such drugs that Symbicort, which also has anti-COPD activity, belongs. It allows to alleviate the course of bronchial asthma, reduce the frequency of attacks and avoid the development of serious complications of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Symbicort has many very advantages over other drugs of its pharmacological group. Thanks to the combined composition, it effectively acts even on those patients who are not helped much by other drugs. Symbicort is easy to use. It is distinguished by the compact size of the inhaler, making it very convenient to carry even in a small purse or just in your pocket. It is not addictive and can be used for a long time. The only serious drawback of the branded Symbicort is the completely non-budget price, as a result of which patients have to constantly save the medicine, not to use it once again, which negatively affects their health.
The way out of this situation is generic Symbicort. Generics allow the buyer to spend significantly less money, since they are significantly cheaper than branded drugs, which is due to the much lower costs that generic manufacturers incur in the production of their drugs. This is due to the fact that they spend much less money on advertising their drugs compared to branded drug manufacturers, and also because they use a ready-made drug formula, according to which the drug is produced. They do not need to spend money on clinical and marketing research, conduct laboratory research and do many other things that adversely affect the manufacturer's wallet and make him greatly inflate the price of the medicine for the end user. In addition, the manufacturer of branded Symbicort charges the buyer for the brand itself, because AstraZeneca is a popular pharmaceutical company whose products are never cheap. At the same time, generics are usually produced by much less advertised pompous companies that offer their consumers much more affordable prices.
Traditionally, generic drugs for asthma are not the most popular item in the list of manufacturers focused on the production of generics. For example, antibiotics are much more likely to have generic versions. However, almost all currently widely used drugs for bronchial asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, mainly in the form of inhalation aerosols, have some number of generics.
Symbicort is no exception. This drug has only recently received an FDA-approved generic version, but other generic Symbicort products that have not yet received FDA approval have been in production for some time by Indian pharmaceutical companies.
First Symbicort Generic Is FDA-Approved
In March 2022, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first generic drug of Symbicort (the active ingredients Budesonide and Formoterol) in the form of an aerosol for inhalation. Like the branded drug, generic Symbicort has been approved for use in the treatment of two common conditions: bronchial asthma in patients aged 6 years and older, and for the maintenance treatment of airway obstruction and reduction of relapses in patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) including chronic bronchitis and/or emphysema. It should be noted that, like the branded drug, generic Symbicort should not be used to relieve acute attacks of bronchial asthma. There are other medicines for this purpose. This is due to the fact that the mechanism of action of Symbicort is cumulative. It should be used on an ongoing basis, that is, daily. It accumulates in the body, acts for a long time, gradually gaining strength, and the effect of it is not immediately visible. Therefore, in the case of an acute asthma attack, Symbicort is not a salvation. As a rule, doctors prescribe to take this medicine by inhalation method for at least several months.
US-based Mylan Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which is now part of Viatris, a new global healthcare company committed to empowering people to live healthier at every stage of life, has received FDA approval.
The fact that the FDA officially approved generic Symbicort indicates that the American healthcare system is moving forward in its quest to bring generic drugs to the pharmaceutical market that can improve the quality of life of patients with chronic diseases and help reduce the cost of treatment. This was mentioned in a press release from the Director of the FDA Generic Drugs Office. This position reflects the FDA’s efforts to increase competition and ensure that the public has access to quality, safe, effective, and affordable medicines. This situation indirectly indicates that the purchasing power of the average American over the past 2-3 years has greatly decreased, since about 3-4 years ago, the US pharmacological policy was extremely hostile towards generic drugs, since their wide distribution seriously reduces the level of income received by large pharmaceutical companies of America – the so-called Big Pharma.
Symbicort Generic Price
Generics of Symbicort allow consumers to save significant amounts of money. The lowest retail price for FDA-approved generics currently on the pharmaceutical market is about $138 for one inhaler at a dosage of 80 mcg/4.5 mcg, which is about half the cost of branded Symbicort, whose inhaler bottle costs about $299.
Bronchial asthma, like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, does not choose its victims according to their income level. People with middle, low and even very low income also suffer from these diseases and need adequate treatment. However, brand-name drugs for the most part today are beyond the reach of most people, even of average income, if they are forced to use them regularly, as is necessary in the case of Symbicort. In light of this, the desire to save money and purchase generic Symbicort at an affordable price does not look like stinginess, but like taking care of your health.
Cheap Generic Symbicort Coupon
A good tip that will save a significant amount when buying generic Symbicort is to use coupons for this medicine. Coupons apply not only to branded Symbicort, but also to its generics, since the active substance is the same in both cases - it is a combination of Budesonide and Formaterol. This medicine can only be purchased by prescription, while the doctor writes a prescription not directly for Symbicort itself as a registered trade name, but for a combination of its active ingredients, so even the most official prescription can be safely used to purchase any generic. By providing a coupon for Symbicort, or rather, for its active ingredients, at the pharmacy, you can save up to a quarter of the cost of this medicine. The question arises, where to get coupons? They are usually distributed on aggregate sites such as SingleCare, GoodRx and others. You can subscribe to new coupons that will allow you to treat your bronchopulmonary diseases without detrimental consequences for your wallet. At the same time, coupons usually work both in large pharmacies, such as Rite Aid, Kroger, Costco, GeniusRx, and in smaller ones. Nevertheless, in most cases, discount coupons are a way to save money in large pharmacies and supermarkets, which have departments for the sale of medical devices and preparations.
Generic Symbicort Coupon
Coupons for a cheap generic Symbicort is valid both in offline pharmacies and online pharmacies. In online pharmacies, prices are usually much more attractive anyway. And with a coupon, you can really save a lot of money. You can get a coupon on aggregator websites, as well as directly on the websites of those pharmacies where you plan to place an order. It should be noted that if you are a regular customer of any pharmacy, it is likely that you will receive individual offers for discounts and individual coupons that are more profitable than those that unregistered users or those who make an order for the first time.
If you manage to find great coupons for generic Symbicort, please note that it rarely makes sense to buy multiple bottles of this medicine at once. This is due to the fact that one inhaler is enough for a long time, and the expiration date is limited. Try to calculate how many days (months) one inhaler lasts for you and, based on this, determine whether you will get extra inhalers, because it is strongly discouraged to use expired medicine recommended.
Even though you have to pay for shipping when ordering a generic version of Symbicort from online pharmacies, in most cases the cost is quite small compared to the cost of the drug itself. Your purchase, even with delivery, will cost you at least two times cheaper than the purchase of Symbicort from AstraZeneca, so is it worth overpaying just for a loud brand name?
Symbicort Inhaler Generic
With proper use and a favorable course of the disease, Symbicort generics allow the patient to enter a stable remission. Bronchial asthma is an insidious disease, it rarely completely leaves a person. However, with the help of modern drugs, it is possible to achieve an almost complete cessation of seizures. And some patients forget about them for several years or even for life. This is especially true for those who suffered from bronchial asthma in adolescence. It often happens that after the full formation of the body with proper treatment, bronchial asthma no longer bothers the patient.
Bronchial asthma, like COPD, is a serious disease, and patients suffering from it usually take their condition seriously and carefully study the medications that a pulmonologist prescribes for them. However, some patients are skeptical about generics, in particular generics of Symbicort, because they believe that generics are inferior in quality to the original drug. Meanwhile, there is practically no difference between generics and their prototypes. If we are talking about tablet medicines, then there may still be differences such as the shape and color of the tablet, but in the case of aerosol inhalers, the difference is minimized. This may be a slight off-flavour due to generic manufacturers using different flavors. In most cases, this is just the appearance of the inhaler, not even its shape, but the color and sticker that is on it. The active ingredients are, of course, identical, as is their dosage. Therefore, generic Symbicort affects the human body as effectively as the original medicine. Strictly speaking, by generics we mean complete analogues of the original drug. Not something like it, but a copy made by another pharmaceutical company.
Generic Symbicort and its branded prototype have the same indications, contraindications, side effects and dosing recommendations. You can get acquainted with them both in the package insert for the medicine, and on numerous websites where the same instructions are presented, only in electronic form. With regard to dosing, it is important to remember that Symbicort is dosed individually, depending on the severity of the disease. This should be taken into account both when starting treatment with this drug, and when changing the maintenance dose of the drug when a positive dynamics of the disease occurs. The patient must be under the constant supervision of a physician to adequately select the dose of Symbicort.
As with the original Symbicort, when using generic Symbicort, rinse your mouth thoroughly with water after inhalation. This helps to reduce the risk of developing candidiasis of the oral mucosa and pharynx, which, unfortunately, are a fairly common side effect of using this medication. It is necessary to rinse with water both after inhalation as part of symptom relief, and after inhalation as part of maintenance therapy.