A drug to treat opioid overdose is now more available than ever. But why is its price skyrocketing?

[Corporations want to own your sorry ass. ---Bozo]

Rss@dailykos.com (hunter) · Saturday, April 23, 2016, 11:36 am

The good news is that as the Obama administration and numerous states tackle the ongoing opiate epidemic, an essential drug for treating opioid overdose when it happens is now being made far more available than it was a few years ago. Naloxone used to be a fixture only in emergency rooms, but is now being made more widely available to first responders like paramedics and police officers.

For decades, naloxone was only available by prescription or through emergency medical technicians at the time of an overdose. But some state and local governments have taken steps to make the reversal drug more accessible. Many law enforcement agencies are training the police to administer the drug; as of July 2015, officers in 28 states carried naloxone to reverse an overdose if they reached the scene before paramedics did. [...]

Since 2014, dozens of states have passed laws that allow Narcan to be bought directly from pharmacists without a doctor's visit. Other states allow third-party prescriptions, meaning friends or family members of users can get a prescription for someone they think is at risk.

Helping to push this trend along is $11 million made available from the Obama administration to distribute the drug and train first responders.

The bad news is that even as states invest in purchasing the drug and training those responders, the only maker of the nasal-spray form of the drug, Amphastar, has been jacking up the price without explanation.

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