The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) may soon approve an over-the-counter (OTC) nasal spray that helps prevent drug overdoses. Scheduled to hit shelves early next year, the naloxone spray was developed by Emerging BioSolutions.
How naxolone works in the anti overdose spray
Naloxone acts as an opioid antagonist, preventing them from activating receptors in our cells. In this way, the drug can quickly reverse potential overdoses via injections or (as in this case) a simple nasal spray. It's a very important step. It could be decisive in reducing deaths from drug (or painkiller) overdose: in the USA in particular a real massacre is underway, with over 100.000 deaths in 2021 alone.
While the FDA has been reluctant to allow the sale of injectable versions of naloxone, it is considering bringing nasal or self-injectable sprays to market, even asking for formal applications last month. Emergent Biosolution answered the call, and now things are moving fast. The company announced that authorities have agreed to subject its first version of the drug to priority review. This may be the first time ever that such an overhaul has occurred.
When will we be able to see this spray drug on the market?
Apparently, very soon. We could see the nasal sprays of OTC naloxone sold in local pharmacies over the next year. Initially in the USA (but the problem must also be addressed in Europe, even if it is currently to a much lesser extent).
“We are committed to increasing access and awareness about naloxone,” he said Robert G Kramer, CEO of Emergent. “We are taking this step to help address the growing and devastating number of opioid overdoses and deaths occurring across the country,” said Robert G Kramer, CEO of Emergent.
Having faced the consequences, we will then need to get to the causes of a real invasion of painkillers: we will need to ask ourselves whether pharmaceutical companies cannot adopt approaches other than those that risk literally "drugging" the population, with effects like the ones we see.
