How Can U.S. Fight the Opioid Crisis? Try Antidote Patents
- Baltimore, consumer group demand U.S. take action on epidemic
- Step could lower cost, increase availability of naloxone
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The Trump administration should fight the opioid epidemic with a novel weapon, say the city of Baltimore and a consumer advocacy group: overriding patents on the widely-used overdose antidote naloxone.
By overriding patents for naloxone treatments including Kaleo Inc.’s injectable Evzio and Adapt Pharma Inc.’s Narcan nasal spray, the government could lower the cost and increase availability of the antidote, Baltimore’s health department and Public Citizen said in a letter to the White House on Thursday.