Despite FDA approval of over-the-counter sales of the overdose-reversing drug, 28 towns in CT don’t have a store with a permit to sell it.
Naloxone
Posted inHealth
After the save: A drug can reverse an overdose. Then what?
The drug naloxone can reverse an opioid overdose. Experts say it’s a vital tool, but in many ways, a short-term one: Naloxone saves lives, but it doesn’t necessarily change them. Now, a pilot program in one emergency room aims to connect people who have been revived after overdoses to longer-term recovery help.
Posted inHealth
Pharmacists offer overdose-reversing drug, but say demand muted
Some customers thank Ed Schreiner for making naloxone available at his pharmacy. The bin with brochures about the drug, which can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, is often empty. But since last year, only about a dozen people have asked Schreiner to prescribe the drug. Other pharmacists said they’ve been similarly surprised by the low demand, given the state’s ongoing opioid crisis.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Opioid bill wins unanimous approval in Senate
The bill would limit initial opioid prescriptions for acute medical conditions to a seven-day supply, and aims to ensure that more first responders carry drugs that can reverse the effects of an overdose.
Posted inHealth
State reaches rebate deal on price of overdose reversal drug
The agreement comes after Attorney General George Jepsen questioned the drug maker about what he called a dramatic increase in the price of naloxone at a time when states were seeking to make it more available to first responders for use in opioid overdose emergencies.
Posted inHealth
Bill would limit new opioid prescriptions to seven-day supplies
New prescriptions for opioid medication to address non-chronic pain would be limited to a seven-day supply under a proposal state legislators from both parties are backing – one of several bills aimed at curbing a drug epidemic that killed, on average, more than one person per day in Connecticut last year.
Posted inHealth, Politics
CT official: VA’s failure to share data hurts vets at risk of prescription abuse
WASHINGTON — Connecticut veterans are escaping the notice of a state program aimed at combating prescription painkiller abuse, an epidemic among those veterans; and the federal government’s Department of Veterans Affairs is to blame, a state official says.
Posted inHealth, Politics
CT lawmakers join war on heroin, painkillers
Washington – Washington has turned its attention to the epidemic of heroin addiction and overdose deaths – including more than 250 in Connecticut last year, but there’s a limit to what the federal government and Congress can do, especially in times of tight budget constraints.