How To Save Money on Advair Diskus (fluticasone/salmeterol)

Advair Diskus 250mcg/50mcg (fluticasone propionate 250 mcg and salmeterol 50 mcg inhalation powder) is a twice-daily prescription medicine used long term to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). It may also be prescribed for the maintenance treatment of asthma in patients four years of age and older. It is not used to relieve sudden breathing problems and will not replace a rescue inhaler.

Many consumers have come to PharmacyChecker.com seeking price relief for their Advair Diskus prescription through our drug price comparisons. The majority of these patients seem to reside in the United States, where the average retail price of just three Advair Diskus (fluticasone/salmeterol) 250mcg/50 mcg inhalers is around $1,400. For a medication meant to make breathing easier, the price tag certainly doesn’t help. PharmacyChecker compared costs across U.S. prescription savings options as well as offers at international mail-order pharmacies it accredits for safety. The best cost savings, short of working with your doctor and exploring patient assistance programs, is to order Seretide Diskus from an international online pharmacy in Turkey. (Advair Diskus is also marketed internationally under the name Seretide Diskus.) Should you wish to keep your shopping U.S.-based, Advair Diskus coupon prices published on PharmacyChecker.com beat out both GoodRx and Cost Plus Drugs. 

Brand Advair Diskus (fluticasone/salmeterol) Cost Comparison

250mcg/50mcg (1 diskus inhaler)

Prices collected November 2023

*Advair Diskus is also marketed internationally under the name Seretide Diskus.

Other Ways Cut Costs on Advair Diskus (fluticasone/salmeterol)

Talk to Your Doctor About Drug Prices

Ask your clinician for an alternative prescription, for the generic or a medication used for the same indication as Advair Diskus. Work with your doctor to choose an affordable option that your insurance plan may cover or is generally less expensive, either at your neighborhood pharmacy or an accredited international online pharmacy.

Advair Diskus Patient Assistance

There are currently four different programs you can apply to for Advair Diskus financial assistance. You usually have to fall at or below 500% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) in order to qualify.

If you think you may qualify for a PAP, we suggest that you visit the website of NeedyMeds, a non-profit organization that has detailed and up-to-date information on the programs.

Visit NeedyMeds.org

Consider the Generic

The generic, fluticasone/salmeterol, is available on U.S. pharmacy shelves as well as PharmacyChecker-accredited international online pharmacies.

View Generic Advair Diskus Discounts

Is the Advair Diskus from international pharmacies the same as the one in the United States?

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, some medications sold outside the U.S. are the exact same and others are not. In many cases, medications sold in Canada and the U.S. are made in the same FDA-registered plants; the only difference is the packaging.

However, many medications sold in Canada and elsewhere are not the exact same but are foreign versions of the ones sold in the U.S., meaning they are not identical. Such medications may be manufactured in plants that are not registered with the FDA and may contain different inactive, pharmaceutical ingredients. To keep this in perspective, the generic drugs sold in the U.S., such as atorvastatin, generic Lipitor, are not identical to the brand.

The brand name Advair Diskus is a registered trademark of drug company GlaxoSmithKline. Advair Diskus is manufactured and distributed in the U.S. as well as in other countries, such as Canada. The active ingredients in Advair Diskus are fluticasone propionate and salmeterol inhalation powder. GlaxoSmithKline also markets this drug in the United Kingdom, although it goes by a different name: Seretide Accuhaler. Seretide Accuhaler is manufactured by Glaxo Operations UK Ltd, United Kingdom; or Wellcome Production, France; or Aspen Bad Oldesloe GmbH, Germany (as noted in the Electronic Medicines Compendium — a listing of medicines licensed for use in the UK).

In 2012, Advair made the list of drugs involved in a landmark civil settlement agreement between GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and the United States, in which GSK agreed to pay $3 billion to resolve fraud allegations. It was the largest health care fraud settlement in U.S. history. The United States said that GSK promoted off-label uses of Advair and paid kickbacks to healthcare professionals who sold the drug:

...GSK also promoted its asthma drug, Advair, for first-line therapy for mild asthma patients even though it was not approved or medically appropriate under these circumstances. GSK also promoted Advair for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with misleading claims as to the relevant treatment guidelines.”

Where is Advair Diskus manufactured?

Seventy-one percent of brand-name medication sold in the U.S. is manufactured outside of the U.S. according to PharmacyChecker research.

Packaging of Advair Diskus sold in the United States shows that it is made in England and North Carolina. We found packaging of the generic, fluticasone propionate and salmeterol diskus, that indicated it was manufactured in North Carolina.

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