Pharmaceutical major Glenmark launched an inhaler for asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients that displays the medicine dose remaining in it.

"Digital dose inhaler or 'Digihaler' will enable the patients to track the number of doses that have been consumed. This will further enable the doctors to determine patient's adherence to the prescribed therapy regime," said Glenmark president Sujesh Vasudevan.

Priced in the range of Rs.300 to Rs.450, the Digihaler comes with a small screen which displays the number of puffs remaining, discounting from 120, the typical number of medicine puffs a standard inhaler offers.

"Conventional inhalers known as metered dose inhalers give no clue of the remaining amount of medicine once they are opened for use, giving room for error in adherence to the therapy regimen," said Vasudevan.

He further said that a Digihaler proves more effective in addressing pseudo-adherence and tail-off phenomenon.

"Pseudo-adherence is when patients think that he is taking the medication but in reality is just activating a nearly empty canister. A tail-off phenomenon occurs when patients continue to use inhaler beyond the recommended number of doses," said Vasudevan.

Digihaler's other benefits include giving warning about the impending exhaustion of the medicine and when the medicine finishes.

The digital dose inhaler falls in the respiratory category of Glenmark portfolio of products which contributes 15-16 percent of its business in India.

According to Vasudevan, the Indian inhaler market is Rs.500 crore big into which Digihaler is making its debut as the first digital dose inhaler.

The newest product from the pharma major will be manufactured in Baddi in Himachal Pradesh and Aurangabad in Maharashtra.