OBJECTIVES: Asthma is a chronic disorder requires continuous and long term management. Thus it makes the patient economically week and produces more burden on patient. Short acting βagonists in pressurized metered dose inhalers and dry powdered inhalers are the most commonly prescribed formulations in south Indian clinical settings. The present study aims to investigate and to select appropriate cost effective formulation of metered dose inhalers (MDR) or dry powdered inhalers (DPI) for salbutamol. METHODS It is a prospective comparative study conducted among subjects those who were newly diagnosed with asthma. The patients were divided into two groups based on the type of inhaler used such as MDI or DPI group. All the patients were counseled about the usage of inhalers during their treatment device allotment. Quality of life and FEV 1 were measured at the baseline visit. In addition to that data related to direct cost such as medical, laboratory and re- hospitalization costs were also measured at baseline. Follow up was done for both the groups. Similar to baseline  visit quality of life, FEV1 and direct medical costs were measured during follow up. RESULTS The present study results shows that there is no significant difference between two groups with regards to demographic characteristics. We observed a significant difference in QOL (p <0.05) and the mean score for two treatment devices groups was found to be 55.63 &43.72 respectively. There is no significant difference in FEV 1 (p >0.05) and symptom free days between two treatment devices. Average cost effectiveness ratio was calculated and average cost effectiveness ratio for MDI were found to be less compared to DPI but statistically not significant. CONCLUSIONS Overall it was found that efficacy was higher in MDI than DPI and cost was equal for both the groups to treat newly diagnosed asthma patients with salbutamol.