Free overdose-reversal kits are given to Kentucky hospitals with the highest recent rates of heroin-overdose deaths

Kentucky hospitals with the highest rates of heroin overdose deaths are receiving funding for heroin/opiate overdose reversal kits, which will be provided free of charge to every treated and discharged overdose victim at the pilot project hospitals, according to a state press release.

The funding for these kits is through the Substance Abuse Treatment Advisory Committee, which oversees the distribution of a $32 million pharmaceutical settlement fund that is used to expand treatment in Kentucky. The committee has allocated $105,000 to purchase these kits for the pilot hospitals: the University of Louisville Hospital, the University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington, and the St. Elizabeth Healthcare in Northern Kentucky.

In 2013, 230 Kentuckians died from heroin overdoses. Final numbers for heroin overdoses in 2014 are not yet available, but the Office of Drug Control Policy estimates heroin was involved in 30 percent of all drug-overdose deaths, according to the release.

Attorney General Jack Conway chairs the committee and First Lady Jane Beshear serves on it. They announced recently that about 500 of these kits will be made available to the St. Elizabeth system, which treated 545 people in 2013 and 745 people in 2014 for heroin overdoses.

“There is evidence the collaborative efforts in our community are having an effect,” St. Elizabeth interim president and CEO Garren Colvin said in the release. “A report earlier this month indicated that heroin-related overdose deaths are down in Northern Kentucky. ... To continue to battle heroin issues in our community and throughout Kentucky, it is going to take education and collaboration at the local and state levels.”

Naloxone, which is also known as Narcan, is the drug in the free Naloxone Rescue kits and "has no potential for abuse and immediately reverses the effects of heroin overdose by physiologically blocking the effects of opiates," says the release.

One of the challenges for access to these kits is that they are not covered by Medicaid or many private insurance companies and are too expensive for most people to purchase. Health experts anticipate that when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves the nasal mist form of the drug, most insurance companies and Medicaid will cover it.

“As Kentuckians expand access to mental health treatment, including addiction recovery, it’s more important than ever to have community access to tools like Narcan,” Jane Beshear said in the release. “Often, an overdose experience is what finally drives people suffering from addiction to seek help.”

UK professor develops nasal spray to deliver standard antidote to painkiller overdose; fast-tracked, in final clinical trials

A new lifesaving product to treat painkiller overdoses is in its final round of clinical trials at the University of Kentucky and is being fast-tracked by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The product is a nasal-spray application of the anti-opoid drug naloxone, developed by Daniel Wermeling, professor in the UK College of Pharmacy, through his startup company AntiOp Inc.

Opioids are the class of pain-killing drugs that are related to morphine, including prescription drugs such as hydrocodone and oxycodone as well as illegal drugs such as heroin. Naloxone is the the standard treatment for suspected opioid overdose, according to a UK news release.

Naloxone is now administered by injection. The spray eliminates the need for needles, with a ready-to-use, single-use delivery device inserted into the nose of an overdose victim. The product delivers a consistent dose, absorbed across the nasal membranes even if the patient is not breathing.

"The goal is to make the medication available to patients at high risk of opioid overdose and to caregivers, including family members, who may lack specialized medical training," Wermeling said. "The treatment could be given in anticipation of EMS arrival, advancing the continuum of care and ultimately saving lives."

Nationwide, deaths from opioid overdose are on the rise, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Kentucky, with a long history of opoid abuse, ranks third in the nation for drug overdoses, with more than 1,000 dying each year. Heroin abuse is on the rise, with 230 deaths, or 31.9 percent, of autopsied overdose deaths attributed to heroin in 2013.  This is a 60 percent increase from the previous year, according to the Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy.

Congratulating Wermeling on his success, UK President Eli Capilouto said, "The epidemic of opioid abuse in our state presents an enormous and urgent challenge, not only for health care providers and law enforcement but also for us here at the University of Kentucky. Dr. Wermeling's project is putting a powerful new tool into the hands of those on the front line of the fight against heroin, both here in Kentucky and beyond."

Wermeling's research was supported by a three-year, $3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health through the National Institute on Drug Abuse with additional funding from the Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation. His company partnered with Reckitt Benckiser Pharmaceuticals in May to accelerate the production and worldwide marketing of the product.