CVS To Sell Overdose Reversal Drug Without A Prescription In 12 More States

Naloxone, or Narcan, is nonaddictive, nontoxic and easy to administer through nasal or intravenous application. It reverses the effects of an opioid overdose by essentially blocking the opioid receptors that are targeted by heroin and many prescription painkillers.

From 1996 through June 2014 laypersons reported using naloxone in 26,463 overdose reversals, according to a June report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2013 alone, nearly 40,000 laypersons with 93 organizations reported 8,032 overdose reversals.

Some critics have claimed that wide access to naloxone could encourage risky drug use by giving users a way to “fix” an overdose. But while naloxone has been found to be highly effective — capable of reducing overdose deaths in a community by as much as 50 percent when paired with proper training and distribution — it doesn’t come without a price. Administering it to an overdose victim can send them into a rapid and excruciating withdrawal, which supporters say makes it unlikely to enable abuse.

“The only thing naloxone does is reverse an opiate overdose,” said Laura Thomas, California deputy director of the Drug Policy Alliance. “It’s not a drug that people can get high on, it’s not a drug that has any other repercussions or side effects, and increasingly people understand that we need to get naloxone into the hands of anyone who’s likely to be at the scene of an overdose.”

Amid surging opioid overdose deaths across the U.S., many states have taken action to expand access to naloxone. A number of states are now training and equipping first responders and other law enforcement officers. Others have passed laws protecting prescribers from criminal prosecution or civil liability. But some states have done nothing.

Still, naloxone advocates like Thomas say opposition to naloxone access has begun to evaporate over the last few years. 

Even politicians not known for their progressive views on drug policy are getting on board. Earlier this year, Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas) told The Huffington Post he believes the federal government should make the drug available over the counter nationwide.

“Right now, it’s hard to get,” Burgess said. “If it were available at a 24-hour pharmacy, not saying it could save every life at risk, it could save some. The downside of having it available is what?”

Other lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have also spoken out about naloxone, urging federal action to make the drug more easily available to the public. But for the Food and Drug Administration to consider such a broad step, a manufacturer would first have to apply to sell the drug without a prescription, an FDA spokesman told HuffPost in April.

As demand for naloxone rises with acceptance, so have prices. Over the past two years, Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, manufacturer of the popular intranasal form of the drug, has in some cases reportedly doubled the prices it charges. In Baltimore this year, for example, the cost of a single dose went from $20 to $40 in just five months, according to an NPR report. Some have blamed Amphastar for these increases, but the company has cited increased manufacturing and material costs.