The U.S. Food and Drug Administration Thursday approved a prescription treatment that could be used by family members or caregivers to treat a person known or suspected to have had an opioid overdose.
Evzio (naloxone hydrochloride injection) rapidly delivers a single dose of the drug naloxone through a hand-held auto-injector that can be carried in a pocket or stored in a medicine cabinet.
It is meant for the emergency treatment of known or suspected opioid overdose, characterized by decreased breathing or heart rates, or loss of consciousness.
Naloxone is a medication that rapidly reverses the effects of opioid overdose. It is also the standard treatment for overdose. However, existing naloxone drugs require administration by way of a syringe and are most commonly used by trained medical personnel in emergency departments and ambulances.
Drug overdose deaths have become the leading cause of injury death in the U.S., surpassing motor vehicle crashes. They are caused mainly by by prescription drug overdose. In 2013, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the number of drug overdose deaths had steadily increased for more than a decade.
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