A U.S. advisory panel ruled on Thursday that GlaxoSmithKline Plc's widely prescribed drug Advair is safe enough for treating asthma, while two lesser-used medicine are too risky. The panel of experts saw the evidence of asthma-related deaths and serious complications and they decided to warn against continued use of Glaxo's Serevent and Novartis AG's Foradil for adults, adolescents and children with asthma.

As for the safe medicine against asthma, AstraZeneca's Plc's Symbicort was also deemed safe alongside Advair. Why are they safe? It is important to mention that all of the inhaled drugs contain long-acting beta agonists, but Advair and Symbicort add a steroid which made the medicines less risky.

Now, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will consider the recommendations as officials decide if the drugs should continue to be approved in order to threat asthma. However, an FDA official said that no patients should stop taking any of their asthma medications without consulting a doctor.

Asthma is marked by restricted breathing and wheezing and is often made worse by exercise, cigarette smoke and a sum of other factors. According to the most recent data, 20 million in the United States have asthma. Uncontrolled asthma can lead to attacks that can be fatal.

The experts' opinions are split. Some of them urge the withdrawal of the asthma approval for all of the medicines in children, while experts in another division that reviews asthma drugs said the numbers of death and serious complications were small and risks were manageable with some warnings.