News Report | May 28, 2019
Naloxone Prescriptions Increase 484% Over Two-Year Period
Dispensed prescriptions for the opioid overdose remedy naloxone increased by 484% between January 2017 and February 2019. During the same period, the total amount of opioids being prescribed monthly (by retail and mail-order pharmacies) dropped by 34%. The number of individuals receiving buprenorphine as medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid addiction rose by 23%. The number of prescriptions for naltrexone, another form of MAT, increased by 42%.
These findings were reported in “An Update On The President’s Commission On Combating Drug Addiction And The Opioid Crisis: One Year Later,” by the U.S. Office of National Drug Control . . .