Dive Brief:
- Walgreens has announced a two-pronged approach to helping combat opioid abuse in a program that has already begun in New York and will roll out state-by-state throughout the year.
- One part of the program involves offering the heroin overdose antidote naloxone for sale without a prescription at more than 5,800 of Walgreens' nearly 8,200 drugstores. In states that require a prescription, Walgreens says it is "eager to work with regulators to help update rules."
- The company also plans to provide no-cost medication disposal kiosks at more than 500 of its stores in 39 states and Washington, D.C. to help ease the disposal of medications, including controlled substances, to reduce their misuse.
Dive Insight:
Walgreens' program supports multiple current federal efforts to combat opioid abuse, including a plan by the FDA and a proposal by President Barack Obama to request $1.1 billion for the fight against prescription opioid and heroin misuse.
“Today’s announcement builds on the public and private sector actions announced by President Obama in October and demonstrates our strong commitment to addressing the prescription drug abuse and heroin use epidemic as both a public health and a public safety issue,” stated Director of National Drug Control Policy for the White House Michael Botticelli.
As noted by UPI, CVS already sells Narcan, a different opioid overdose antidote, in 15 states and aims to offer it in 20 more this year. It sells the drug without a prescription in states that allow it.