Naloxone’s Need (and Price) Spike

(Winter 2016) Forty-four states will split $53 million in federal grant monies to combat the nation’s widespread opioid abuse issue. The funding is earmarked for purchases of the overdose-reversal drug naloxone as well as improvements to prescription monitoring programs and enlarging initiatives that use medication-assisted treatment for addiction. In addition to this infusion of cash, the Obama Administration is pushing for Congress to authorize $1.1 billion for addiction recovery services.

The states’ infusion of cash is coming at an important time, as naloxone’s cost has doubled over the past three years — to the current average cost of $40 per dose. Public administrators report that naloxone’s price tag is curbing the number of doses they can provide, which may be leading to unnecessary deaths of individuals overdosing on prescription painkillers, heroin and fentanyl.

Since time is of the essence with opioid overdose reversals, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sponsored the 2016 Naloxone App Competition to leverage today’s technology. The contest encouraged coders to develop an application that will link an individual who has overdosed on an opioid drug to the nearest location of the life-saving antidote.

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