Yes, Breyna partially is a steroid. It’s a combination inhaler that contains two active ingredients: budesonide, which is a corticosteroid, and formoterol, which is a long-acting bronchodilator. So while Breyna isn’t purely a steroid, one of its two main components is one.
What’s Inside Breyna
Breyna is a generic version of Symbicort, and the two drugs share the same active ingredients. The corticosteroid component, budesonide, is a potent anti-inflammatory glucocorticoid. It works by calming inflammation inside your airways, reducing swelling that makes it harder to breathe. The second ingredient, formoterol, is a completely different type of drug. It’s a long-acting beta-agonist (often shortened to LABA) that relaxes the muscles surrounding your airways, opening them up within one to three minutes of inhalation.
These two ingredients tackle breathing problems from different angles. The steroid addresses the underlying inflammation driving the disease, while the bronchodilator provides more immediate physical relief by widening the airways. They also have a complementary relationship: the corticosteroid can actually restore your body’s responsiveness to bronchodilators if that responsiveness has faded from repeated use.
What Breyna Is Approved to Treat
The FDA has approved Breyna for two conditions: asthma in patients aged 6 and older, and maintenance treatment of COPD (including chronic bronchitis and emphysema). It’s a daily controller medication, not a rescue inhaler. Breyna is not indicated for sudden breathing emergencies or acute bronchospasm.
How the Steroid in Breyna Differs From Oral Steroids
When people hear “steroid,” they often think of prednisone or other oral corticosteroids that circulate throughout the entire body and come with a long list of side effects. The budesonide in Breyna is an inhaled corticosteroid, which means it’s delivered directly to the lungs where it’s needed. This targeted delivery results in far less impact on the rest of your body compared to swallowing a steroid pill. Budesonide specifically was designed to provide strong local anti-inflammatory effects while causing less disruption to your body’s hormonal balance than equivalent doses of oral prednisone.
That said, inhaled steroids aren’t completely free of systemic effects. Small amounts can be absorbed into the bloodstream, which is why long-term use at higher doses may carry some risks. This is also why rinsing your mouth with water and spitting it out after each dose is important. It helps prevent oral thrush, a yeast infection of the mouth and throat that can develop when the steroid settles on those tissues.
How to Use Breyna
The standard regimen is two puffs twice a day, morning and evening, roughly 12 hours apart. Before your first use, or if you haven’t used the inhaler in more than seven days, you need to prime it by shaking it for five seconds and releasing two test sprays into the air away from your face.
For each dose, shake the inhaler for five seconds, breathe out fully, then place the mouthpiece in your mouth and inhale slowly and deeply while pressing down the canister. Hold your breath for about 10 seconds, then exhale. Shake the inhaler again and repeat for your second puff. After both puffs, rinse your mouth with water and spit it out. Don’t swallow the rinse water.
Why It Matters That It Contains a Steroid
Knowing that Breyna contains a corticosteroid is useful for several practical reasons. If you’re switching from another inhaler, your doctor needs to know what medications overlap. If you’re already taking an oral corticosteroid, the inhaled steroid in Breyna factors into your total steroid exposure. And if you’re concerned about drug testing or steroid-related side effects, understanding that budesonide is present in your inhaler gives you the full picture of what you’re taking.
The bronchodilator component, formoterol, also carries its own considerations. LABAs should not be used alone for asthma without a corticosteroid, which is precisely why combination inhalers like Breyna exist. The two drugs are meant to be used together, and Breyna packages them into a single device to make that straightforward.