FDA approves first generic nasal spray to treat opioid overdose  

The first generic version of the opioid overdose-reversing nasal spray, Narcan, has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. 

Approval for the naloxone spray was announced on Friday, and comes after a nationwide push to make the drug more accessible in order to help combat the tide of overdose deaths in the US opioid epidemic. 

Narcan typically sells for $130 to $150 for a pack of two doses. 

The generic version’s manufacturer, Teva, has not yet released its price-point, but generics typically run 80 to 85 percent cheaper than name brand drugs. 

In 2017, nearly 61,000 people died of opioid overdoses in the US. 

But Narcan saved 27,000 lives in 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

The ‘Lazarus drug’ has been widely hailed as one of our best weapons in the fight against the opioid epidemic. 

Everyone from the US Surgeon General to Demi Lovato – who credits Naloxone with saving her from an overdose – is urging more Americans to buy and carry the drug, and be prepared to save a life. 

Many US police departments now carry the drug, as do fire departments and many EMTs. 

The opioid epidemic has spread and claimed more lives in the years since 2015, but Narcan has undoubtedly saved more, too. 

Between January 2017 and August 2018, opioid prescription rates in the US fell by 21 percent, and Narcan prescriptions shot up by 264 percent.  

And pharmacies like Walgreens and CVS now sell Narcan without a prescription.  

Local, state and even federal officials have thrown their ideological and financial support behind programs to improve access to the life-saving drug. 

Now, with the first generic version of the drug has been given the federal green light. 

‘In the wake of the opioid crisis, a number of efforts are underway to make this emergency overdose reversal treatment more readily available and more accessible,’ said Dr Douglas Throckmorton, deputy center director for regulatory programs in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, in a statement.  

Dr Throckmorton went on to say that the FDA is going to do its part to ease and speed the approval process for other naloxone generics. 

He said the agency is also looking into prescribing naloxone alongside any opioid that poses the danger of a fatal overdose. 

‘All together, these efforts have the potential to put a vital tool for combating opioid overdose in the hands of those who need it most – friends and families of opioid users, as well as first responders and community-based organizations,’ Dr Throckmorton said.

 ‘We’re taking many steps to improve availability of naloxone products, and we’re committed to working with other federal, state and local officials as well as health care providers, patients and communities across the country to combat the staggering human and economic toll created by opioid abuse and addiction.’