A new drug has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that could help combat opioid overdoses.
EVZIO is the first and only naloxone auto-injector intended to be available for immediate administration by family members or caregivers for suspected opioid overdose in settings where opioids may be present," a Kaleo news release reported. Kaleo is the company that created the new drug.
Opioids are pain medications that bind to receptors in the brain, but they can cause fatal overdoses. This class of drugs is often used recreationally.Over 16,000 Americans die every year from opioid overdoses.
The active ingredient in the new potentially life-saving drug, called Naloxone, has been used for over four decades to treat respiratory depression caused by opioid overdose.
"Kaleo was founded on the idea that patients are true experts on how their conditions impact their lives, and EVZIO was developed with patient and caregiver input throughout to make sure it would be easy to use in stressful opioid emergencies with limited training," Eric Edwards, MD, PhD, Chief Medical Officer of kaleo, said in the news release. "Immediate availability of EVZIO for family members and caregivers to administer during a suspected opioid overdose has the potential to save many lives."
The drug must be administered as quickly as possible after the overdose occurs because respiratory depression can damage the central nervous system and even result in death.
"All patients taking an opioid pain medication accept some risk of potential overdose. No medication is side effect free, and potent pain relieving opioids have a narrow window of effectiveness, with some very serious possible side effects including potentially life-threatening respiratory depression," Allen Burton, MD7, anesthesiologist and pain specialist at Houston Pain Centers and former chairman of the department of pain medicine at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, said in the news release. "Until now, most people had to rely on emergency medical care to get access to an opioid reversal agent. Having naloxone available for use by caregivers as soon as signs of overdose are observed means an earlier intervention and better chance of survival."
