Overdose blocker available at all pharmacies
Two weeks after U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams traveled to Mississippi to urge the state to increase access to naloxone, the drug is now available at any pharmacy without a prescription.
Naloxone, often delivered through the brand-name nasal spray NARCAN, is an opioid antagonist, meaning it can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.
"Expansion of the availability and use of this drug could greatly reduce drug overdose deaths and save lives," State Health Officer Dr. Mary Currier said in a press release. "It's important that Mississippians – any family member, friend or other person in a position to help someone suffering from an opioid overdose – are aware of the availability of this drug and know how to administer it if the need arises." But the overdose blocker can be cost prohibitive to the large low-income population affected by opioid addiction.
Currier said there are several types of naloxone, ranging in price from $37.50 to $1,500. In an interview with the Associated Press, she said the wide variation in cost is largely because of different types of technology. The more expensive doses are packaged with small audio recordings that give step-by-step instructions for a lay person to administer the drug. She said one of the least expensive ones is a vial of medicine that must be drawn into a syringe that is sold separately.
According to NARCAN's website, 38 percent of prescriptions for the nasal spray have a zero co-pay, 77 percent have a co-pay under $10 and 81 percent have a co-pay under $20.
Nationwide, more than 175 Americans die each day from drug overdoses — a scourge on track to claim 1 million lives by 2020. Two-thirds of those overdoses result from opioids.
Gov. Phil Bryant said Mississippi law enforcement officers have revived 43 people in the past nine months with naloxone. The governor said all Highway Patrol troopers and Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics agents are carrying naloxone.
Currier issued a standing order permitting pharmacies to dispense naloxone, at the request of customers. A 2017 Mississippi law paved the way for her order.
A state law enacted in 2017 says physicians may write a standing order for
Jerry Mitchell and Anna Wolfe
pharmacies to sell naloxone to people without a prescription. Currier said during Adams' visit that many large corporate-owned pharmacies have been doing so, but some smaller, independent pharmacies had not started. She said she would issue a standing order to those smaller pharmacies so they can start selling the drug without prescriptions.
"We applaud Dr. Currier's wisdom in offering another tool in our battle against opioid abuse and overdose deaths," said Frank Gammill, executive director of the Mississippi Board of Pharmacy, in the release. "I am confident this will save lives. I challenge all pharmacies in Mississippi to participate in this standing order and offer this lifesaving medication to their communities."