Volumatic spacer is reintroduced
06 January 2006

The Volumatic spacer is being reintroduced, only five months after it was withdrawn from the market by its manufacturers, GSK.

Many people with asthma who used the device, or who have been prescribed with a spacer for the first time since the Volumatic was phased out in September 2005, will have had to use a smaller volume spacer, such as the AeroChamber Plus. Doctors were advised to carefully monitor patients who had swapped devices, to see if they needed to change the dose or type of medicine they were receiving.

However, the Committee on Safety of Medicines (CSM) expressed concern that there was not enough evidence to show that smaller volume spacers were always an effective substitute for the Volumatic, especially when used by children, or with high dose corticosteroids and long-acting beta-agonists.

As a result, GSK have decided to reintroduce the Volumatic: manufacturing will begin in February 2006, but some interim supplies will be available in January.

'People who are currently using the AeroChamber Plus should continue using it until their doctor advises them to swap devices,' advised Karen Newell, an asthma nurse specialist on Asthma UK's Adviceline.

'If you are having any problems using your spacer or with any of your medicines, you should make an appointment with your GP or practice nurse for an asthma review,' she added.