Trelegy Ellipta®

What is Trelegy Ellipta?

Trelegy Ellipta is a daily inhaler that you’ll use every day to manage symptoms of asthma. It contains three different active ingredients that work to prevent asthma symptoms.

One is a corticosteroid, which helps to ease swelling and inflammation in your lungs, and the other two are bronchodilators, which relax the muscles around your airways. This should help to ease asthma symptoms and prevent flare ups.

What is the active ingredient in Trelegy Ellipta?

Trelegy Ellipta contains three active ingredients. The first is umeclidinium, which is a type of long-acting-muscarinic-antagonist (or LAMA for short), which are also known as anticholinergics. The next is vilanterol, a long-acting-beta-2 agonist, also known as a LABA. Lastly there’s fluticasone furoate, a corticosteroid (which are different from anabolic steroids) used to manage inflammation.

How does Trelegy Ellipta work?

Trelegy Ellipta works in a couple of different ways to manage asthma symptoms. Umeclidinium is a LAMA, which is a type of bronchodilator. It blocks receptors known as muscarinic receptors, which are responsible for contracting your muscles. This relaxes the smooth muscle around your airways, helping keep them open to make breathing easier.^[1]

Vilanterol is another type of bronchodilator that has a similar effect to umeclidinium, but works in a slightly different way. It binds to beta-2-adrenoceptors on the smooth muscle around your airways, causing them to relax and widen.^[2]

Lastly there’s fluticasone furoate, an inhaled corticosteroid. It targets and reduces swelling in your airways and lungs by decreasing levels of inflammatory cells, and constricting blood vessels so less of these cells reach your airways.^[3] This should help to manage and prevent asthma symptoms in the long-term.

How do Trelegy Ellipta doses work?

Trelegy Ellipta inhalers come in two dosages. The first contains 100 mcg of fluticasone furoate, 62.5 mcg of umeclidinium, and 25 mcg of vilanterol per actuation, and the second contains 200 mcg of fluticasone furoate, 62.5 mcg of umeclidinium, and 25 mcg of vilanterol per actuation. These doses are frequently written as 100/62.5/25 and 200/62.5/25 respectively.

How to take Trelegy Ellipta

Always stick to the instructions your prescriber has given you when using Trelegy Ellipta. You’ll take Trelegy Ellipta every day to prevent symptoms and improve your condition over time. Trelegy Ellipta is ready to use as soon as you open the tray, and can be used for up to six weeks after being opened (you should write the date of when it will expire in the assigned space).

To use your inhaler:

• Slide the cover down until it clicks
• Make sure the dose counter has counted down when you hear the click, or the inhaler won’t deliver your medicine
• Holding the inhaler away from your mouth, breathe out fully
• Making sure you’re not blocking the air vent with your fingers, place the mouthpiece into your mouth and make a seal with your lips
• Take a slow and steady deep breath in through your mouth
• Remove the inhaler from your mouth and hold your breath for as long as is comfortable for you (three or four seconds)
• Breathe out slowly and gently
• Slide the cover up and over the mouthpiece as far as it will go
• Rinse your mouth out with water and spit out the water to prevent throat irritation

When the dose counter changes colour to red, that means there are only 10 uses of your inhaler left, and you should get a new one to replace it.