Kaleo, a drug company based in Richmond, Virginia, making the gadget injection to provide a life-saver drug naloxone. The company has raised prices by injection twin pack from $690 to $4,500 2014 2016.
Cost generic naloxone also has doubled to nearly $150 for 10 ml vial and one 2 ml vial has doubled from about $20 in 2009 to around $40 year 2016, according to a study published in December 2016.
First responders in the D.C. area said increased costs has led to a lack of time.
"We are in a crisis. We meet every month to find creative ways to fill this gap, "said Brian Frankel,
EMS Chief for Prince George's County Fire Department.
"Where we used to pay about $20 a dose, now we pay for 50 dollars range," said Montgomery County Fire and rescue Battalion Chief Alan Butsch.
Frankel says so in tune with the need to naloxone, Prince George's County Fire Department has to cut some programs administration and educational programs.
"It is a huge public health problem," he said.
Drug overdose deaths has increased 33 percent in the last five years around the country, according to data from the Center for disease control and prevention. More than 52,000 died of an overdose of drugs by 2015.
0 comments: