“I saw it on TV” is the reason approximately 78% of patients tell their doctors.  Is that a good reason to take Advair?  Advair has been linked to asthma related deaths, and people are rushing to their doctors because they saw it on TV.

Dr. Marvin Lipman, Consumer Reports’ chief medical advisor says, “‘Highly advertised new drugs are not necessarily the best form of treatment. Older drugs can be just as effective, cost far less, and be safer because they’ve been in use longer.’”

So remember, just because you saw a drug advertised on TV, it might not be the best drug for you.  Please consult your primary care giver (physician) and talk to him/her about your concerns and reason for wanting to take Advair.

According to many various sources including Forbes Magazine and GlaxoSmithKline, Advair may increase the chance of an asthma-related death.

GlaxoSmithKline on their Advair.com website says, “ADVAIR contains salmeterol. In patients with asthma, medicines like salmeterol may increase the chance of asthma-related death.”

See the screenshot below taken June 5th, 2006.

In the April 24th, 2006 issue of Forbes Magazine, Robert Langreth said, “Now growing evidence suggests that a small percentage of patients – perhaps 4,000 people a year, by one doctor’s estimate – may be dying because of Advair or its Serevent component.”

4,000 people is a lot of people per year.

Stanford University clinical professor of medicine Shelley Salpeter says, “If we got these drugs off the market, we could prevent 4,000 deaths a year.” (Forbes, April 24, 2006)

Advair is by far the world’s bestselling asthma treatment drug. Advair has over 21 million prescriptions written per year, GlaxoSmithKlines other asthma drugs, Flovent and Serevent have about 5 million prescriptions written per year.

Every person that dies while taking Advair is a potential lawsuit that GlaxoSmithKline will have to face in court, if a class action lawsuit is brought against them. Attorneys and lawyers are already lined up to help fight the extensive legal battle should it come to that.