Dulera has not been officially discontinued. The combination inhaler, which contains a steroid and a long-acting bronchodilator for asthma control, has experienced supply shortages that made it difficult or impossible to find at pharmacies. This led many patients and pharmacists to assume the product was pulled from the market. As of early 2025, the manufacturer Organon lists all Dulera presentations as available, though local pharmacy stock can still vary.
What Actually Happened to Dulera
Dulera landed on the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) drug shortage list, which tracks medications that are difficult to obtain nationwide. When a drug appears on this list, pharmacies often can’t order it through their normal distributors, and patients get told it’s “discontinued” at the counter even when that isn’t technically accurate.
Organon, the company that manufactures Dulera, did not provide a reason for the shortage. That’s not unusual for drug shortages in the U.S. Manufacturers are required to notify the FDA of anticipated supply disruptions but aren’t always transparent about the root cause, which can range from manufacturing delays and raw material sourcing problems to business decisions about production priorities. Without a public explanation from Organon, there’s no confirmed answer for why the supply dropped.
The ASHP listing was updated on March 31, 2026, noting that all Dulera inhalation aerosol presentations are available. Both the 100 mcg/5 mcg and 200 mcg/5 mcg strengths, in both the 120-inhalation and 60-inhalation pack sizes, remain FDA-approved products.
Why It’s Been Hard to Find
Several factors beyond the shortage itself have made Dulera harder to access than competing inhalers. No generic version of Dulera has been approved by the FDA, which means there’s no alternative manufacturer producing the same formulation. When the sole supplier has a production disruption, the entire supply dries up with no backup.
Dulera also occupies a smaller market share compared to inhalers like Symbicort and Advair, which have been available longer and now have generic options. Insurance formularies have increasingly favored those alternatives, and some plans stopped covering Dulera or moved it to a higher cost tier. When fewer prescriptions are written for a drug, pharmacies stock less of it, which creates the impression of unavailability even when the manufacturer is shipping product.
Alternatives That Work the Same Way
Dulera combines an inhaled corticosteroid (to reduce airway inflammation) with a long-acting bronchodilator (to keep airways open for 12 hours). Several other inhalers use the same two-drug approach and are considered therapeutically comparable. If you’ve been unable to fill your Dulera prescription, your prescriber can switch you to one of these without a gap in asthma control.
- Symbicort pairs budesonide with formoterol, the same bronchodilator in Dulera. It’s taken as two puffs twice daily and is available in generic form, which often makes it cheaper.
- Advair combines fluticasone with salmeterol and comes in both a disc inhaler and an aerosol. Generic versions exist for both formats. Dosing is typically one inhalation (disc) or two puffs (aerosol) twice daily.
- Breo Ellipta uses fluticasone with vilanterol and only requires one puff once a day, which makes it the simplest to use. It’s available in two strengths.
Switching between these inhalers isn’t a one-to-one dose swap because each uses different steroid and bronchodilator compounds at different concentrations. The American Lung Association publishes comparative dosing charts that prescribers use to match your current Dulera dose to the equivalent strength in another inhaler. For example, if you were on Dulera 100 mcg/5 mcg at two puffs twice daily (a medium dose), the comparable Symbicort regimen would be two puffs twice daily of the 80/4.5 mcg strength, or one puff daily of Breo Ellipta 100/25 mcg.
What to Do If Your Pharmacy Says It’s Discontinued
If you’re told Dulera is discontinued, ask your pharmacist to check current wholesaler availability. Supply has been restored according to ASHP’s most recent update, but individual pharmacies may not have restocked it, especially if they shifted patients to other inhalers during the shortage. A different pharmacy location or a mail-order pharmacy may have it in stock.
If you can’t find it or your insurance no longer covers it at a reasonable copay, switching to one of the alternatives above is straightforward. The transition doesn’t require tapering off Dulera or any waiting period. You simply start the new inhaler at the equivalent dose. Most patients notice no difference in symptom control after switching to another combination inhaler in the same drug class.