The president of the Massachusetts Medical Society yesterday called a nearly 79 percent increase in the cost of drug kits used to reverse the effects of heroin and opioid painkiller overdoses a "huge step backward" that could interfere with families' and first responders' ability to save lives.
"Naloxone is a proven method of saving lives," said Dr. Richard Pieters. "The possibility that communities and first responders would be denied use of this drug is a huge step backward ... This cannot be overstressed."
Last November, the price the state pays per kit, which contains two doses of naloxone, known by the brand name Narcan, and two atomizers, jumped from approximately $42 to about $75, said Anne Roach, a Department of Public Health spokeswoman.
Since Gov. Deval Patrick declared a public health emergency last March, naloxone has helped reverse nearly 700 opioid overdoses in the spring and summer alone — double the number over the same period in 2013, said Roach.
DPH recently announced grants totaling $600,000 to Boston and 22 other communities with high incidences of fatal opioid overdoses to help pay for naloxone kits and training for first responders, Roach said. But that money will go only so far.
The formulation used in the kits is made by California-based Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, and it is combined with an atomizer to create an "off-label" nasal spray.
Jason Shandell, president of Amphastar, said "manufacturing costs for our entire portfolio of products, including naloxone, have been steadily increasing."
Attorney General-elect Maura Healey said that after she takes office, she will investigate cost increases in the naloxone market.
"The marked increase of the anti-overdose medication naloxone is concerning," Healey told the Herald yesterday, "especially after media reports that kits used by first responders jumped ... only after government entities started discussing its use by teams in the street."
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