Experts: Government Should Call on Naloxone Makers to Reduce Costs

The government should call on manufacturers of the opioid overdose antidote naloxone to reduce the cost of the life-saving drug, experts write in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine.

Rising naloxone prices may threaten attempts to reduce opioid-related deaths, researchers from Yale University and the Mayo Clinic warn. “The challenge is as the price goes up for naloxone, it becomes less accessible for patients,” Ravi Gupta, the study’s lead author, told HealthDay.

The researchers suggested a number of strategies to lower naloxone prices, including encouraging generic competition, buying in bulk and importing generics from international manufacturers. The government could also invoke a federal law that allows it to contract with a manufacturer to produce cheaper versions. The Food and Drug Administration could make naloxone an over-the-counter drug, the researchers noted.