Advair's New Rival?
by Caroline Hellman

AstraZeneca is seeking FDA approval to sell its Symbicort asthma drug in the United States. Symbicort is an inhaled asthma medicine that competes with Advair. Symbicort is already very popular in Europe, but has yet to hit the United States asthma market.

Though Symbicort will be reviewed shortly by the FDA, both the actual drug and its dispensing tool need to be examined for safety, so approval might take some time--potentially two years.

In terms of world sales, Symbicort reported $800 million in 2004. Glaxo's Advair, a rival also known as Seretide, reported sales of 4.5 billion.

Both drugs are taken regularly by patients and use bronchodilators with corticosteroids to treat inflammation and prevent asthma attacks and flare-ups. The difference between the two drugs is that Symbicort has an adjustable dosing regiment that the patient can alter, while Advair has one fixed dose.