RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Central Virginians are preparing to get their hands on a life-saving medicine as the opioid overdose reversal drug Narcan is poised to go on pharmacy shelves around the country later this year.
Narcan is the brand name for naloxone hydrochloride, a drug meant to rapidly reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. At the end of March, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the nasal spray version of Narcan to be sold without a prescription.
Emergent BioSolutions, the company that makes Narcan, is hoping that the spray will be available for purchase on pharmacy shelves by the summer. However, a retail price has not yet been decided.
Other brands of naloxone and injectable forms of the drug are not yet available over the counter.
For Central Virginians like Jonathan Eacho and Jameya Moore, Narcan isn’t just a medication — it’s a lifesaver. Both overdosed multiple times and were saved by the drug.
“Without Narcan I would probably be dead,” Eacho said.
“The first time I overdosed they had to Narcan me twice. The second time I overdosed, they Narcan’ed me three times. And the last time I think it was like four times,” Moore added.
For Eacho, the drug not only gave him a second chance at life, but helped him save the lives of other people who were overdosing.
“The moment is scary and I don’t think you can ever prepare for it because they are dying in your face,” Eacho said.
Narcan was first approved by the FDA in 2015 as a prescription drug. But the McShin Foundation, a local addiction recovery and treatment organization, has been advocating for the drug’s over-the-counter use for nearly seven years in the midst of a nationwide opioid crisis.
“People are dropping like flies, the overdose rates are higher than they have ever been historically,” Cricket Ronquest, Assistant Director of Operations at McShin, said.
According to the FDA, there were more than 101,750 deadly overdoes in the United States between October 2021 and October 2022. Many of these overdoes can be linked back to drugs like fentanyl, a type of synthetic opioid.
While more people will soon be able to get their hands on the potentially life-saving spray, Eacho believes that combating the opioid epidemic doesn’t stop at accessibility to tools like Narcan. He also hopes more people will take advantage of revival courses to know what to do in the midst of an overdose.
“Knowing how to do it and not, could be the difference between saving a life and losing one,” Eacho said.
