CNN
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As drug overdose deaths hover near record levels in the United States, naloxone is reaching more people than ever, and possible policy shifts could make it more accessible this year. But experts say the overdose-reversing medication is not a panacea for the country’s opioid epidemic.
About 1.2 million doses of naloxone were dispensed by retail pharmacies in 2021, according to data published by the American Medical Association – nearly nine times more than were dispensed five years earlier. Nearly all states have standing orders that allow pharmacists or other qualified organizations to provide the medication without a prescription to people who are at risk of an overdose or are helping someone at risk.
But research suggests that the naloxone supply needs to be much more prevalent and saturated throughout the population to make a significant difference in reducing overdose deaths.
More than 107,000 people died of a drug overdose in the 12-month period ending August 2022, according to the latest data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, dropping only slightly from the record reached in March. Synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl, were involved in more than two-thirds of those deaths.
Fentanyl is potent and fast-acting, and it’s bringing people into the emergency room with greater needs than before, said Dr. Edward Boyer, an emergency medical physician specializing in medical toxicology at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.
“They require greater amounts of naloxone than they did in the past, and that’s because of the presence of fentanyl,” he said. “I’ve had overdose [patients] that come in that just don’t respond to naloxone at all because of either the amount or the potency of the opioid that they have on board.”
Some key changes are on deck at the federal level this year that may help improve access to the life-saving drug nationwide – including a move to make naloxone available over-the-counter, which could happen as early as March.
The US Food and Drug Administration will meet next month to review the first application for a naloxone nasal spray that would be available over-the-counter. The application, which is for a generic version of Narcan from drugmaker Emergent BioSolutions, was granted priority review in…
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