Norwalk Reflector, Ohio
NORWALK, Ohio— Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced today that Ohio has reached an agreement with naloxone manufacturer Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. regarding rebates for public entities that purchase Amphastar naloxone within the next year.
As part of the agreement, Amphastar has agreed to provide a $6 rebate for each Amphastar naloxone syringe purchased by non-federal public entities in Ohio between March 2, 2015, and March 1, 2016.
“It is my goal each and every day to protect Ohioans, and this agreement will not only save money, but it will also save lives,” DeWine said. “Because we were able to secure these rebates, law enforcement and other agencies can use the money they save to buy more doses of naloxone. The more doses that are available, the more lives that can be saved.”
The agreement is in response to a letter sent by Attorney General DeWine to Amphastar last month after the company dramatically increased its price for the life-saving drug. When given to a person overdosing on heroin or a prescription opioid, naloxone can limit or stop the overdose by reversing the effects of the opioid on the brain.
Public entities that qualify for the rebates include, but are not limited to, law enforcement agencies, the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, Project DAWN (Deaths Avoided with Naloxone) community programs, and county and local governments.
If Amphastar raises its wholesale price of naloxone during the term of the agreement, the company has also agreed to increase the rebate amount.
Ohio, like many other states, has been severely plagued by the opiate epidemic, with heroin contributing to as many as 18 overdose deaths a week in 2013. Naloxone was administered to counter opioid overdoses an estimated 74,000 times in Ohio between 2003 and 2012, with more than 10,500 of those doses administered in 2012 alone..
©2015 the Norwalk Reflector (Norwalk, Ohio)