Every day in America, 44,000 people experience an asthma attack. The most common remedy to asthma is a beta receptor, often in the form of a drug known as albuterol. In recent years, however, many other drug companies have attempted to improve the chemical formula of albuterol. The most notable among these is Levalbuterol, which is sold under the brand name Xopenex. Many studies have been conducted to examine the effects of Levalbuterol in comparison with basic albuterol. Let’s break down some of the facts of both drugs to determine whether one is better than the other.
Albuterol
Albuterol was invented in 1968 but wasn’t approved by the FDA until 1982. The compound is taken as an aerosol via the use of an inhaler or nebulizer. Most individuals who suffer from asthma report that within minutes of taking albuterol, they experience greater respiratory relief. Nearly one out of every four emergency room visits that take place each year in the US is due to asthma, and as such practically every hospital is well-stocked with compound. It is believed that albuterol is responsible for saving millions of asthma patients’ lives every year.
Levalbuterol
Another beta receptor, Levalbuterol was approved by FDA in 2005 as an alternative asthma treatment to albuterol. Shortly after its release to the market, several studies were released that seem to indicate that Levalbuterol had a slightly more potent effect than albuterol as a respiratory muscle relaxant. The patients involved in the studies seem to benefit more from using Levalbuterol; however, the big drawback of all of this was that Levalbuterol is substantially more expensive than albuterol.
But if we look closer, is Levalbuterol really worth paying so much extra for? The drug itself is extremely similar to albuterol as it is also taken with the use of an inhaler or nebulizer. Its chemical properties are also highly similar to albuterol – they even have the same active ingredient. Not long ago, there were several rebuttal studies performed involving the two drugs that attempted to examine the accuracy of the initial trials. It was soon discovered that two drugs did, in fact, perform almost identically on the new research samples.
Conclusion
It became immediately apparent that the initial trials had been subjected to a publication bias as they were conducted on behalf of the Xopenex manufacturers. Today, it is universally accepted in the field of pulmonology that albuterol is the drug of choice for treatment of asthma and other pulmonary disorders given that it performs equally well at only a fraction of the cost.
