Johnstown, Pa — According to the Washington Post, there was more than 100,000 drug overdose deaths reported in the United States last year.
Since then, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a new nasal spray – in an effort to help curb the opioid epidemic.
The new medicine is called Opvee – an official 6 News spoke with compared this new drug to Narcan.
“There is a new tool on our arsenal against the opioid overdose epidemic,” said Jerome Adams, the former U.S. Surgeon General and current Director of Health Equity at Purdue University.
The new tool he is talking about is Opvee.
“Really, it’s designed to be a fentanyl fighter,” Adams added. “The epidemic is evolving; we have to evolve with it.”
Adams tells Channel 6 Opvee is an over-the-counter medicine used to reverse the affects of an overdose.
“While Naloxone is still a very good agent, Narcan. We hear first responders telling us over and over their having to administer three, four, five sometimes eight or nine doses of naloxone to reverse the overdose," Adams said. "And this is an agent that actually is much more potent, much more longer acting and therefore is a potentially valuable tool particularly for first responders, but really for everyone and as we continue to try to evolve with this epidemic.”
Adams says Opvee is now being distributed across the country and he would like to see first responders – like Robbie Tauber, the 2nd Lieutenant and Safety Officer with the West Hills Fire Department – get their hands on it as soon as possible.
“It’s definitely a life saver,” said Tauber. “The opioid epidemic is growing worse and worse every day and unfortunately were seeing more overdoses now than ever.”
Adams added, “This is one more tool in the tool chest and that’s never a bad thing.”
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