United States regulators on Thursday approved a portable device to treat painkiller overdoses that people without medical training can use in emergency situations, a move to combat the rise of deaths from the abuse of opioids, including heroin, according to the Associated Press.
State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman Thursday announced a new program that will equip state and local police throughout New York with a heroin antidote to treat overdose victims at the scene, the AP reported.
The Food and Drug Administration said making the cell phone-sized device with the recovery drug naloxone available for wider use could help save lives as opioid drug overdoses increase, the AP reported.
The approval means emergency responders or even family members could have an easy-to-use treatment in cases of suspected overdose of opioids, which include pain drugs like oxycodone, morphine, codeine and hydrocodone as well as heroin, according to the AP.
"It's really an effort to make this very usable," FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said, the AP reported.
More than 16,000 people die each year from prescription opioid overdose in the United States, according to the FDA and the device's maker, privately held drugmaker kaleo Inc., according to the AP.
Opioid overdoses are mostly tied to those addicted to painkillers and heroin, but they can also happen accidentally in patients using the prescription medicines legitimately to treat pain, the AP reported.
The hand-held device is called Evzio and automatically delivers a set dose of naloxone, a drug ingredient already approved to treat overdose patients that works by quickly restoring breathing, according to the AP.
Naloxone is now typically given through a nasal spray or a syringe that must be injected under the skin or into the muscle, and has been limited mostly to medical professionals at hospitals and emergency rooms as well as a growing number of police officers and other emergency responders, the AP reported.
The version approved on Thursday is small enough to be carried in a pocket, the FDA said, according to the AP. Relatives and caregivers would still need training and practice on how to use the device, and several doses may be needed to revive someone, the agency added.
