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:
- Appendix 1 - inhaler devices dispensed in the community setting
- Appendix 2 - inhaler types dispensed in the DHB Hospital setting.
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 |