Ohio reaches deal with maker of heroin overdose antidote
By Brendan Pierson (Reuters) - The maker of a heroin overdose antidote used by police in many states will give rebates to state and local agencies in Ohio after the state's top law enforcement official criticized a spike in the price of the drug. California-based Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Inc will offer a $6 rebate for each dose of the drug, naloxone, bought by non-federal public entities in Ohio in the next year, Attorney General Mike DeWine said Wednesday. Amphastar has also agreed to increase the rebate to match any further price increases in the next year, DeWine said. Naloxone, marketed under the trade name narcan, quickly reverses the effects of an overdose of heroin or other opioid drugs. Law enforcement officials nationwide have embraced its use in the midst of an increase in opioid abuse, which U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has called an "urgent and growing public health crisis." The wholesale price of the drug, which hovered around $14 per dose in 2013 and early 2014, shot up to $28.50 by October, DeWine wrote in a letter in February to Amphastar asking it to cut the price of naloxone for public entities. DeWine said the drug had been administered 74,000 times in Ohio between 2003 and 2012, and that more than 10,000 of those doses were administered in 2012 alone. The price increase made it harder for entities that respond to heroin overdoses to keep enough naloxone in stock, he said. Purchasers of the drug that will be affected by the Ohio rebate include police departments, local governments and the state's Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced a similar $6-per-dose rebate agreement with Amphastar for public entities in New York state in early February. Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey also sent a letter to Amphastar in February asking for information about the price increase. Her office has not announced any agreement with the company. A spokesman for Amphastar could not immediately be reached for comment.
