ProPublica has a thorough, new investigation on the blockbuster asthma drug Advair, used by millions of Americans.

Reporter Jeff Gerth writes that “recent federal research suggests that a significant percentage of asthma patients begin using Advair inappropriately, taking on what the drug’s label describes as an increased ‘risk of asthma-related death’ from one of its two ingredients.”

Gerth says that concerns about that ingredient — salmeterol — were raised as far back as twelve years ago. But it took the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seven more years to require drug maker Glaxo and pharmaceutical companies that make similar drugs to begin studies big enough to assess the risks.

[quote]Results aren’t due until 2017. Meantime, millions of patients on the drugs — a class long dominated by Advair — remain exposed.–ProPublica[/quote]

Advair is a drug that I began looking at in 2003. You can read more about it below.

Asthma Drug Advair May Trigger Asthma Attacks, June 8, 2004

Does Asthma Drug Advair Trigger Attacks? Dec. 7, 2003

Read the ProPublica investigation