The US House of Representatives held a meeting on July 18, 2012 regarding the “Asthma Inhalers Relief Act of 2012,” which is intended “To direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to allow for the distribution, sale, and consumption in the United States of remaining inventories of over-the-counter CFC epinephrine inhalers.”
Witnesses who testified before the Subcommittee on Energy and Power included Jason Shandell, General Counsel and Secretary of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, which owns Primatene Mist CFC inhaler manufacturer Armstrong Pharmaceuticals. Sales of Primatene Mist were banned as of December 31, 2011; the company still has an inventory of nearly 1 million inhalers. Congress previously failed to pass a bill that would have banned enforcement of the phase-out.
Amphastar is encouraging patients to sign a petition asking the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to “do the right thing” and “immediately take steps to put Primatene Mist back on store shelves.” A Facebook page called “Bring Back Primatene Mist” has also been active.
Other witnesses included Monica Kraft, President of the American Thoracic Society; Edward Kerwin, Senior Medical Director of the Allergy & Asthma Center of Southern Oregon; and Chris Ward, former Chairman of the board of directors of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.
Kraft testified that “It is my strongly held view, and the view of the American Thoracic Society, that returning these inhalers to the US market, even for a limited time, is ill advised.”
Read the bill.
Watch the meeting (discussion of the Asthma Inhalers Relief Act begins at about 2:10)
