The war on opioids is in full force, and we are losing. More than 64,000 Americans will die overdose deaths this year. Tighter regulations on prescription narcotics may just be shifting those with opioid addictions back to heroin cartels. During his last term, President Obama signed a bill funding $1 billion into programs combating opioid addiction, including programs that increased access to naloxone, the antidote for opioid overdoses. The current administration announced this year its plan to grant $485 million from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to states to fight opioid addiction. At the same time, synthetic opioids like carfentanil are proving highly resistant to common doses of naloxone, sometimes requiring 10 or more doses of naloxone to reverse an overdose.
The opioid crisis quickly became a state of emergency. More than 40 states responded by making naloxone available without a prescription for the express purpose of enabling family members to revive their loved ones in case of overdose. Other local initiatives have involved the push to make naloxone available to all first responders, including the police and even their K9s who may be exposed to lethal levels of opioids at crime scenes.
While these initial strides have helped to combat deaths from opioid overdose, the financial burden is becoming exhausting. Naloxone has been on the market since 1971 and became generic in 1985. The drug itself is cheap, with current wholesale price cited as $0.33 for a 2ml vial or $11.70 for 10 2ml vials by the International Medical Product Guide. Comparatively, in the US, a simple vial of naloxone is 40 times that price. Price-gauging poster child Mylan of the now infamous EpiPen scandal sells naloxone at $23.72/ml, Hospira sells it at $14.25/ml, Amphastar at $19.8/ml and West-Ward at $20.40/ml.