The Importance of Daily Asthma Control Medication
It is important for patients to use QVAR® as prescribed. The recommended dose is twice daily (BID). To help you make sure your patients are using the QVAR® inhaler properly, we’ve developed a downloadable asthma patient instruction sheet and instructional video that you can provide to your patients.
Patients may be more likely to take QVAR® as prescribed if they understand the inflammatory process associated with asthma and the way QVAR® helps control this inflammation.
Explain Asthma and Airway Inflammation
Some of the basic points your patients should understand include the following:
- Asthma affects the airways, the tubes that carry air into the lungs.1
- People with asthma have airways that are inflamed (or irritated).1
- When the airways are inflamed, they become narrower and are more sensitive to asthma triggers like smoke, pollen, or exercise.1
- Even when people with asthma don't have symptoms, their airways may still be inflamed.1
- Long-term control medicines like QVAR® treat inflammation.
- By reducing the inflammation in your airways you can reduce the chance of having an asthma attack.1
Patients may ask about how QVAR® works. It may help to explain that the particles in QVAR® are small and target both large and small airways in their lungs.*
Treating inflammation in the lungs is similar to treating inflammation from a rash on your skin. You want to target the affected area. The small particles in QVAR® were designed to target the small airways where inflammation may persist in asthma.2-4*
* The relationship of lung deposition and particle size to clinical efficacy is unknown.
Maintaining QVAR® Adherence in Asthma Patients
As with other long-term control medications, QVAR® should be taken daily in order to achieve and maintain control of persistent asthma. Here are some tips you can offer your asthma patients to help them stay on track:
- Remembering to use the QVAR® inhaler is easier if you pair it with another part of your daily routine, like brushing teeth or putting in and taking out contact lenses.
- Keep your QVAR® inhaler in plain sight and in a spot that you see every day, such as your bathroom counter (rather than inside a medicine cabinet).
- If you use an electronic calendar, set up daily alerts to remind you to take your asthma medication.
Indication
QVAR® (beclomethasone dipropionate HFA) Inhalation Aerosol is indicated in the maintenance treatment of asthma as prophylactic therapy in patients 5 years of age or older. QVAR® is also indicated for asthma patients who require systemic corticosteroid administration, where adding QVAR® may reduce or eliminate the need for systemic corticosteroids.
Important Safety Information
QVAR® is not a bronchodilator and is not indicated for relief of acute bronchospasm.
CAUTION: Adrenal insufficiency may occur when transferring patients from systemic steroids (see WARNINGS, Prescribing Information).
A reduction in growth velocity in growing children and teenagers may occur as a result of inadequate control of chronic diseases such as asthma or from use of corticosteroids for treatment
Common side effects associated with the use of QVAR® and placebo in clinical trials include, but are not limited to, headache (12% and 9% respectively) and pharyngitis (8% and 4% respectively).