Sticker stock may be preventing public health officials from expanding the use of a decades-old treatment for heroin overdoses, as deaths from the drug have quadrupled from 2002 to 2013.
One lawmaker is taking the pharmaceutical company Amphastar to task for charging “exorbitant prices” for the drug naloxone, which is used by emergency responders to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.
Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., wrote Tuesday to Maryland officials urging them to aggressively negotiate with Amphastar for a lower price for the drug.
Cummings cited media reports that the price of the drug has increased by more than 100 percent from June 2014 to this year. He cited a recent survey of 37 entities participating in the state’s naloxone training and distribution program, and found that 19 reported price increases in the drug.
“Several entities warned that they may not be able to afford to distribute naloxone going forward,” he wrote to Maryland’s governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general.
The price of the drug has risen in Maryland from $19 per dose to $41 from 2014 to this year, Cummings wrote.
Maryland isn’t the only state having issues with naloxone. New York’s Attorney General Eric Schneiderman earlier this year negotiated a lower price with Amphastar for a $6 rebate per dose to the drug’s wholesale price.
The state was getting kits of the drug for $34 each.
“Some have suggested that these price spikes coincide with an increasing number of large city police departments deciding to supply their officers with the drug,” Cummings said.
Cummings has taken on drug prices before, joining presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders to criticize generic drug makers for high prices.
Another issue is there are few manufacturers of the drug, with Amphastar the only one that makes the spray form used by emergency responders.
Amphastar did not return a request for comment as of press time.
The letter comes as the heroin and opioid epidemic is reaching new heights.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Tuesday that heroin overdose deaths quadrupled from 2002 to 2013. The agency also saw heroin use increase over all demographic groups, even ones that normally don’t use the drug such as women and non-Hispanic whites.
In 2013, more than 8,000 people died, according to the agency’s report issued Tuesday.
CDC officials pointed to expanded use of naloxone among local police and emergency response departments as a key tool in combatting overdoses. The drug has been around for decades, and can immediately reverse the effects of an overdose.
Last year, the Food and Drug Administration approved a version of the drug that could be used by regular consumers, and not just police or emergency medical personnel.
