California Will Buy Cheaper Naloxone To Stop Fentanyl Deaths

California can buy more overdose-reversing medication at a lower price under a deal Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office announced Monday with a pharmaceutical company, potentially giving law enforcement, schools and others more resources to address the state’s fentanyl crisis.

Under a government-run pharmaceutical program called CalRx, California will purchase naloxone from New Jersey-based Amneal Pharmaceuticals at a discounted price of $24 for a two-pack of nasal sprays.

This means California can buy about 1.5 times more naloxone for the same price. That’s 3.2 million twin-packs instead of the 2 million twin-packs purchased at the previous price of $41, Newsom’s office announced.

The state purchases the medication and distributes it to schools, law enforcement agencies, county health departments, clinics and community organizations. Residents can obtain naloxone at no cost through one of these public groups. Otherwise, the market price for individuals at a pharmacy is about $50.

Keep up with LAist.

If you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less.

Subscribe

Just last week, Amneal Pharmaceuticals announced that it had received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to sell its nasal spray naloxone over the counter. Amneal’s nasal spray is a generic version of Narcan.

California’s agreement is good for two years and can be extended, according to state health officials. The state expects to order its first units of naloxone from Amneal next month.

Since 2018, the Naloxone Distribution Project has given out 4.1 million kits of the medication. The state estimates that this has resulted in at least 260,000 overdose reversals.

• Elizabeth Landsberg, director of the Department of Health Care Access and Information: “By getting this lower price, we are making the financial savings and able to use our dollars to buy more product, which of course is ultimately very much about saving lives.”

In 2022, the latest year for which data is available, 7,385 people died from opioid overdoses; the vast majority of those were related to fentanyl.

Naloxone is perhaps the most common tool in aiding the opioid and fentanyl epidemic. It is available in the form of a nasal spray, but also in injectable form. It’s largely effective and safe, and California has been pushing for its broader availability in common public spaces, including schools, restaurants and to ride-share drivers.

“We hope this will become as ubiquitous and as available as other key aspects of first aid kits,” Landsberg said.

The state’s contract with Amneal is the second one announced under the state’s CalRx initiative, through which the Newsom administration is attempting to make life-saving drugs available below market rate. Newsom announced last year the state would make its own brand of insulin through a contract with Civica Rx. On Monday, Dr. Mark Ghaly, the state’s Health and Human Services secretary, said there is no date yet on when California’s insulin will be available.