CNN
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Emergent, the maker of the opioid overdose antidote Narcan, said in a declaration on Thursday that it is aiming for an out-of-pocket price of less than $50 for its nasal spray product now that the US Food and Drug Administration allows over-the-counter sales.
Public interest groups, such as government agencies, nonprofit organizations and first responders, pay less than $50, on average, for a 4-milligram two-dose kit, the company says. Wholesale price is $125 per kit. “One goal for the out-of-pocket retail price is to be consistent with our public interest price…although the retail price is set by individual retailers.”
In a letter of april 6 To Emergent, Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut asked the company to respond Thursday with “the affordable list price for Narcan OTC that your company intends to set.”
“Currently, their product is reported to have a wholesale price of up to $120 for two doses, with significant variation in price based on location and insurance coverage. The uninsured (about a fifth of people with opioid use disorder are uninsured) will be forced to bear the full cost. Even people with low insurance and copays can have a hard time paying for Narcan,” he wrote. “I ask that you commit to working with public health experts, addiction specialists, and community activists to develop and determine a list price for over-the-counter Narcan that makes it affordable and accessible to those who need it most.”
In a response letter Thursday, Emergent stressed the importance of continued federal funding for substance abuse treatment and prevention programs, including opioid response initiatives that distribute Narcan, and for private insurers, Medicare and Medicaid consider their coverage of the drug.
Emergent aims to have Narcan available online and in stores by the end of summer.
Harm reduction experts have said the price of naloxone, the overdose antidote drug in Narcan, has inhibited its accessibility to those who need it most and will likely remain out of reach for many, despite a possible drop. of the price with the availability of free sale.
Dr. Rahul Gupta, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said that when the FDA approved over-the-counter naloxone last month, the administration asked Emergent to keep the price low.
“We have to make sure that these life-saving medicines, as well as the treatment, are accessible no matter where you live, rural or urban, rich or poor,” he said.
Narcan works by blocking the effects of opioids in the brain and restoring breathing. For greatest effectiveness, it should be administered as soon as signs of overdose appear.
The drug works on someone only if there are opioids in their system. It won’t work with any other type of drug overdose, but it won’t have any adverse effects if given to someone who hasn’t taken opioids.
Each kit contains two doses in case the overdosing person does not respond to the first dose. However, Emergent says that most overdoses can be reversed with a single dose. The product can be administered to anyone, including children and babies.
More than a million people have died from drug overdoses in the two decades since the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began collecting that data. Many of those deaths were due to opioids. Opioid overdose deaths rose more than 17% in just one year, from about 69,000 in 2020 to about 81,020 in 2021, the CDC found.
Opioid deaths are the leading cause of accidental death in the US Most are adults, but children are dying too, much of it after taking synthetic opioids like fentanyl. Between 1999 and 2016, nearly 9,000 children and adolescents died from opioid poisoning, with the highest annual rates among adolescents ages 15 to 19, the CDC says.
Retail pharmacies dispensed about 1.2 million doses of naloxone in 2021, according to data published by the American Medical Association, nearly nine times the number dispensed five years earlier.