Availability increased with approval of naloxone as OTC medication

Lately, there was a rise in availability of naloxone after it was accredited to be bought as an over-the-counter (OTC) remedy, in response to a research revealed on-line July 26 in JAMA Well being Discussion board.

Grace T. Marley, Pharm.D., from the UNC Eshelman Faculty of Pharmacy in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and colleagues examined whether or not the accessibility and value of naloxone at North Carolina neighborhood pharmacies modified after OTC naloxone turned obtainable. Knowledge had been collected from consumers at 192 pharmacies in a longitudinal survey research. Knowledge had been collected from March to April 2023 (earlier than OTC naloxone might be bought at pharmacies) and from November 2023 to January 2024 (after naloxone was bought at pharmacies).

The researchers discovered that from earlier than to after naloxone availability at pharmacies, there was a rise in same-day naloxone availability from 42.2 to 57.8 %. The imply quoted out-of-pocket value decreased from $90.93 to $62.67 pre- to post-OTC availability. In each the pre- and post-OTC phases, imply prices had been considerably greater at impartial pharmacies than chain pharmacies ($109.47 versus $86.40 and $77.59 versus $57.74, respectively). Within the pre-OTC section, there was no distinction seen in out-of-pocket prices by urbanicity, whereas imply prices had been considerably greater at suburban and rural versus city pharmacies within the post-OTC section ($88.67 and $65.43, respectively, versus $53.58).

“This research discovered elevated out-of-pocket prices for naloxone at impartial pharmacies in contrast with chain pharmacies and in rural and suburban pharmacies in contrast with city pharmacies,” the authors write. “Total, future work ought to consider OTC naloxone pricing methods at pharmacies and consider strategies to extend its same-day availability.”

Copyright © 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.