FDA Orders Stronger Warnings on Three Asthma Medicines

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has ordered the makers of the asthma drugs Advair Diskus, Foradil Aerolizer and Serevent Diskus to update their labels with new warnings that the medicines may increase the risk of severe asthma episodes, and death when those episodes occur.

The medicines belong to a class called long-acting beta 2-adrenergic agonists (LABA), which are long-acting bronchodilator medicines that help relax the muscles around the airways in the lungs.

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Even though LABAs decrease the frequency of asthma attacks, they can make asthma attacks more severe when they do occur, the FDA said in a public health advisory released Monday.

The advisory highlights a number of recommendations, including not to use LABAs as the first medicine to treat asthma or to treat wheezing that is getting worse.

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