Why was Lufyllin discontinued in US?

Answer 1

Lufyllin is still readily available in the US through Meda Pharmaceuticals. If you have a prescription, and your pharmacy doesn't know how to obtain it, contact Meda through its website, and they will send you a phone number for your pharmacy to contact to obtain the medication.

However, it is difficult to get a prescription.

Around 1996, my primary care Doctor Who was then near retirement age told me that I was lucky that I could still get Lufyllin, and that it was too bad. She said, it's a good medication, but the younger doctors prescribe what is advertised to them by the pharmaceutical companies, and they advertise the newer drugs. The newer drugs are not better: they are JUST newer. Lufyllin has drug interaction problems, she acknowledged, but she said, we know what they are. She added, the newer drugs will have problems too -- we just don't know what they are yet. Famous words those were, from a wise and very experienced internal medicine doctor with an additional area of practice in allergy medication. Sadly, she died a few years later. But her words were entirely true. The only pill that an allergy sufferer can take today for Asthma, if they can't get lufyllin, is Singulair, which was advertised a decade or two ago as if it was a wonder drug, miraculously effective and as safe as a sugar drop -- but it was not true!!!! More recently, it has been disclosed that Singulair has extremely dangerous side effects, that it is completely ineffective in some people for genetic reasons, and that its potential side effects range from suicidal impulses to seizures to nightmares and so on -- people were seeing their children changed into completely different and dangerous personalities because of Singulair -- side effects far more dangerous than had ever been seen in Lufyllin! But Singulair continues to be prescribed, defying reason. My old primary care doctor's wisdom only was proven true after her death. Sadly, the passage of time probably allowed the competition to dominate the market, convincing doctors that the Lufyllin side effects justified severely limiting its use (a complete lie!!!), although the only competitor as a pill is Singulair, whose side effects are actually far, far worse!!! Alas, Lufyllin was not discontinued, but was made very expensive and hard to get by a campaign of lies, lies, lies! And there is nothing we can do about it.