Asthma inhaler devices dispensed

Number of asthma inhalers dispensed in both the community and hospital settings (2014–2018)

14 January 2020

[name and contact details redacted]

Dear [name redacted] 

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION 

Thank you for your request dated 2 November 2019 under the Official Information Act 1982

(OIA) for information about asthma inhalers. You asked for: 

  • The total number of inhaler MDI/DPI/SMI units dispensed in New Zealand for each of the calendar years 2014-2018 inclusive; and 
  • The total number of inhaler units dispensed for each of the listed pharmaceutical products in New Zealand in the attached word document for the calendar years 2014- 2018 inclusive, which includes 20 pMDIs, 21 DPIs and 2 SMIs as the currently funded PHARMAC inhaler devices (I appreciate that not all of these products were available in all of these years). 

We sent you a response on 28 November 2019 and you have asked us to clarify our response as follows: 

  • Would it be possible to provide the number of inhaler devices dispensed per year for each pharmaceutical as the unit(s) rather than total number of doses/actuations? 
  • The number of inhaler devices dispensed for each DPI and SMI pharmaceutical was not included in the datasheet you have provided - only for pMDIs. 

The requested data is detailed in the table in: 

Please note that the DHB Hospital data is of a lower quality than community data and may not be complete. The provided hospital data has been aggregated by inhaler type and constitutes less than 5% of the overall use in New Zealand. 

We trust that this information answers your queries. We are making our information more freely available, so we will now publish selected OIA responses (excluding personal details) on our website. Please get in touch with us if you have any questions about this. 

Yours sincerely 

Alison Hill
Director, Engagement and Implementation

Appendix 1 – Inhaler devices dispensed in the community setting 

Product Type 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Budesonide - Powder for inhalation, 100 mcg per dose DPI 6,412 5,875 5,363 4,925 4,632
Budesonide - Powder for inhalation, 200 mcg per dose DPI 31,222 28,581 25,827 23,523 21,409
Budesonide - Powder for inhalation, 400 mcg per dose DPI 9,765 8,624 7,473 6,535 5,827
Budesonide with eformoterol - Powder for inhalation 100 mcg with eformoterol fumarate 6 mcg DPI 22,743 23,572 28,323 35,386 42,470
Budesonide with eformoterol - Powder for inhalation 200 mcg with eformoterol fumarate 6 mcg DPI 280,841 295,231 321,050 346,564 365,970
Budesonide with eformoterol - Powder for inhalation 400 mcg with eformoterol fumarate 12 mcg DPI 25,534 25,313 25,564 23,875 22,135
Fluticasone - Powder for inhalation, 100 mcg per dose DPI 6,507 8,868 10,120 10,995 11,792
Fluticasone - Powder for inhalation, 250 mcg per dose DPI 4,959 6,489 7,505 7,761 7,839
Fluticasone - Powder for inhalation, 50 mcg per dose DPI 2,249 3,138 3,633 3,865 3,868
Fluticasone furoate with vilanterol - Powder for inhalation 100 mcg with vilanterol 25 mcg DPI - - 40,223 154,738 237,713
Fluticasone with salmeterol - Powder for inhalation 100 mcg with salmeterol 50 mcg DPI 13,352 20,952 23,197 21,055 18,583
Fluticasone with salmeterol - Powder for inhalation 250 mcg with salmeterol 50 mcg DPI 69,157 91,979 95,730 84,618 74,342
Glycopyrronium - Powder for inhalation 50 mcg per dose DPI 17 2,728 13,579 21,558 25,335
Glycopyrronium with indacaterol - Powder for Inhalation 50 mcg with indacaterol 110 mcg DPI - - 3,863 10,346 14,480
Indacaterol - Powder for inhalation 150 mcg DPI 24 1,931 5,617 5,445 5,049
Indacaterol - Powder for inhalation 300 mcg DPI 2 460 1,305 1,015 962
Salmeterol - Powder for inhalation, 50 mcg per dose, breath activated DPI 4,918 4,754 5,031 4,730 4,392
Terbutaline sulphate - Powder for inhalation, 250 mcg per dose, breath activated DPI 74,968 71,364 67,921 65,324 61,401
Tiotropium bromide - Powder for inhalation, 18 mcg per dose DPI 191,348 200,819 181,603 128,219 92,811
Umeclidinium - Powder for inhalation 62.5 mcg per dose DPI - - 18,890 61,741 96,518
Umeclidinium with vilanterol - Powder for inhalation 62.5 mcg with vilanterol 25 mcg DPI - - 5,928 21,043 38,995
Beclomethasone dipropionate - Aerosol inhaler, 100 mcg per dose MDI 232 7,497 16,233 22,230 27,548
Beclomethasone dipropionate - Aerosol inhaler, 100 mcg per dose CFC-free MDI 28,953 26,210 23,408 20,885 18,673
Beclomethasone dipropionate - Aerosol inhaler, 250 mcg per dose CFC-free MDI 11,974 10,678 9,377 8,120 6,782
Beclomethasone dipropionate - Aerosol inhaler, 50 mcg per dose MDI 35 1,802 4,041 5,523 7,047
Beclomethasone dipropionate - Aerosol inhaler, 50 mcg per dose CFC-free MDI 3,823 3,682 2,960 2,865 2,373
Budesonide with eformoterol - Aerosol inhaler 100 mcg with eformoterol fumarate 6 mcg MDI 3,661 4,113 5,414 7,014 8,407
Budesonide with eformoterol - Aerosol inhaler 200 mcg with eformoterol fumarate 6 mcg MDI 34,921 39,967 45,851 48,308 50,483
Fluticasone - Aerosol inhaler, 125 mcg per dose MDI - 234 6,963 10,819 11,483
Fluticasone - Aerosol inhaler, 125 mcg per dose CFC-free MDI 350,590 323,741 292,063 269,128 251,200
Fluticasone - Aerosol inhaler, 250 mcg per dose MDI - 40 1,269 1,815 1,989
Fluticasone - Aerosol inhaler, 250 mcg per dose CFC-free MDI 87,296 74,700 63,874 55,803 49,997
Fluticasone - Aerosol inhaler, 50 mcg per dose MDI - 73 2,736 3,973 4,096
Fluticasone - Aerosol inhaler, 50 mcg per dose CFC-free MDI 123,895 118,224 105,209 99,508 92,243
Fluticasone with salmeterol - Aerosol inhaler 125 mcg with salmeterol 25 mcg MDI 490,570 540,599 545,342 514,316 485,324
Fluticasone with salmeterol - Aerosol inhaler 50 mcg with salmeterol 25 mcg MDI 26,485 28,525 28,872 28,770 28,283
Ipratropium bromide - Aerosol inhaler, 20 mcg per dose CFC-free MDI 68,607 68,424 64,675 57,058 50,140
Salbutamol - Aerosol inhaler, 100 mcg per dose CFC free MDI 1,837,654 1,911,747 1,948,645 2,043,174 2,049,099
Salbutamol with ipratropium bromide - Aerosol inhaler, 100 mcg with ipratropium bromide, 20 mcg per dose CFC-free MDI 182,598 177,771 167,030 152,772 138,717
Salmeterol - Aerosol inhaler 25 mcg per dose MDI - 37 949 845 680
Salmeterol - Aerosol inhaler CFC-free, 25 mcg per dose MDI 53,847 42,180 35,889 29,560 25,400
Tiotropium bromide - Soln for inhalation 2.5 mcg per dose SMI - - 13,338 35,779 49,028
Tiotropium bromide with olodaterol - Soln for inhalation 2.5 mcg with olodaterol 2.5 mcg SMI - - 6,907 23,436 38,875

Appendix 2 – Inhaler types dispensed in the DHB Hospital setting

Type

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

DPI

10,289

19,660

27,917

30,879

48,712

MDI

-

66,487

67,320

58,611

74,357

SMI

-

-

300

9,156

2,035