Preventing Painkiller Overdoses
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD, NYT
APRIL 14, 2014
The Food and Drug Administration earlier this month approved a hand-held device that can quickly reverse the effects of an overdose and prevent deaths from opioid painkillers and heroin. The easy-to-use injector delivers a dose of the drug naloxone, a treatment that is typically delivered in hospitals but can now be used by family members or emergency responders at the scene of an overdose.
With some 17,000 fatal opioid overdoses a year, broader use of this device could save some lives. In some states, first responders are already using naloxone, and the Justice Department has encouraged emergency medical workers across the country to carry the drug. Massachusetts has even made nasal sprays of naloxone available to family members for easy administration, and New York’s attorney general is encouraging law enforcement officers to carry the drug and get training in its use.
The announcement was made in part to shift the focus of discussion from the F.D.A.’s controversial decision to approve a prescription painkiller, Zohydro ER, which contains pure hydrocodone and is released over an extended period to relieve chronic pain. An expert panel had advised the F.D.A. against approval until Zohydro ER or others like it could be made more resistant to tampering or abuse.
Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts announced on March 27 that his state would ban the painkiller as a move to help combat what he called “an epidemic of opiate abuse” in the state. Andrew Kolodny, the president of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing, an advocacy group, praised Massachusetts for banning a drug whose capsules, he said, can be easily crushed and ingested in fatal amounts.
(More here.)
APRIL 14, 2014
The Food and Drug Administration earlier this month approved a hand-held device that can quickly reverse the effects of an overdose and prevent deaths from opioid painkillers and heroin. The easy-to-use injector delivers a dose of the drug naloxone, a treatment that is typically delivered in hospitals but can now be used by family members or emergency responders at the scene of an overdose.
With some 17,000 fatal opioid overdoses a year, broader use of this device could save some lives. In some states, first responders are already using naloxone, and the Justice Department has encouraged emergency medical workers across the country to carry the drug. Massachusetts has even made nasal sprays of naloxone available to family members for easy administration, and New York’s attorney general is encouraging law enforcement officers to carry the drug and get training in its use.
The announcement was made in part to shift the focus of discussion from the F.D.A.’s controversial decision to approve a prescription painkiller, Zohydro ER, which contains pure hydrocodone and is released over an extended period to relieve chronic pain. An expert panel had advised the F.D.A. against approval until Zohydro ER or others like it could be made more resistant to tampering or abuse.
Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts announced on March 27 that his state would ban the painkiller as a move to help combat what he called “an epidemic of opiate abuse” in the state. Andrew Kolodny, the president of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing, an advocacy group, praised Massachusetts for banning a drug whose capsules, he said, can be easily crushed and ingested in fatal amounts.
(More here.)
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