The COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected prescription fill patterns, is causing shortages of several types of inhalers, according to GoodRx.
The prescription discount company said that in the first two weeks of March, there was a large uptick in fill requests for inhalers, and now many are seeing shortages.
The largest inhalers that saw fill request increases were for generic versions of rescue inhalers, like Proventil and Ventolin, according to the report. Proventil's generic saw a 70 percent increase and Ventolin's generic saw an 80 percent increase in fill rate from March 1-15.
As a result, across the country there have been shortages of several inhalers reported from practitioners or patients.
Below is a list:
- ProAir HFA and its generic
- Ventolin HFA and its generic
- Generic Proventil HFA
- Flovent HFA
- Flovent Diskus
Access the full GoodRx report here.