The Trump administration should invoke government authority to slash prices of a life-saving overdose drug or provide funding to expand access amid the coast-to-coast opioid epidemic, Baltimore's health department and a national advocacy group said Thursday.
"What's short is our willpower to do something about it," said Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen, who issued an innovative blanket prescription for naloxone in 2015.
Synthetic opioids like fentanyl are increasingly invading non-opioid drug supplies, creating a massive spike in overdose deaths from cocaine and anti-anxiety medication like Xanax.
As opioid-related deaths rise in the United States, so has the role of synthetic opioids — primarily illicit fentanyl, mixed into heroin or made into counterfeit pills.
Cost is one of the biggest hurdles in getting naloxone, the opioid overdose-reversing drug, into more hands.
Evzio, a hand-held auto injector, has risen from less than $600 in 2014 to more than $4,000 for a two-pack now, according to members of Congress who say it’s time the government do something to tamp down on the price.
The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation is giving the United Way of Central Maryland a $480,000 grant that will connect two local helplines that provide information and referrals to Baltimore's elderly.
In an op-ed by Mayor Catherine Pugh and Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen, they discuss Baltimore's response to the opioid epidemic, including a new initiative involving the City's 11 hospitals.
"The Baltimore City Health Department is working with our hospital systems to create “levels of care” that enshrine best practices for responding to the epidemic and publicly recognize hospitals that implement those practices."
Hailed by dads who say safe, clean changing facilities for babies should be “a right,” a Baltimore councilman Monday introduced legislation that would require more establishments to install baby-changing stations.
A new city health project aims to evaluate Baltimore’s hospitals on their efforts to improve treatment for opioid use disorders.
Leaders from Baltimore’s 11 hospitals joined the city’s mayor and its health commissioner to announce the new effort on Monday. The initiative is intended to identify “best practices” for responding to the opioid epidemic.
