April 21, 2023 – Emergent BioSolutions Says It Wants Cost of Its Over-the-Counter Nasal Spray Narcan – Opioid Overdose Reversal Medications – A box of two 4 mg doses will cost less than $50.
Emergent stated that the goal is to bring the OTC retail price “in line” with the price the company charges public interest groups, The latter average less than $50 a pack. But actual retail prices will be set by individual retailers, Emergent said in a press release. The FDA approved the over-the-counter drug Narcan on March 29, but Emergent did not provide a fee at the time. Emergent said it expects the drug to be available in stores and online by late summer.
$50 price Emergent says will be less than the company’s current wholesale acquisition cost of $125 . Still, the drug is too expensive for many of the people who would benefit from it, health experts told NBC News.
“Most people are unlikely to spend $40 to $50 on a Narcan,” Harvard TH Chan Michael Barnett, MD, associate professor of health policy and management in the School of Public Health. “They’re also prioritizing rent, food, and paying for opioids, and we want them to reduce those costs.”
The drug is now available free of charge by prescription in public health departments and community centres. Some pharmacy chains offer the drug without a prescription, but consumers must ask a pharmacist to fill it. Health insurance usually doesn’t cover over-the-counter drugs, and it’s not known if Narcan would make an exception.
“When a drug like Narcan is approved for over-the-counter There are tensions,” Larry Levitt, executive vice president of health policy at KFF, told NBC News. “These drugs have become more readily available over the counter, but ironically, in many cases also more expensive for patients if they are not covered by insurance.”
Hope Narcan will help reduce the number of opioid overdose deaths, estimated at 1,000,000 a year in the United States.
