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FDA panel unanimously approves OTC Narcan

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It won't be on the shelf at your local pharmacy next week, but a major regulatory hurdle has been cleared.

FDA Panel Gives Unanimous Thumbs Up to OTC Naloxone​


In the wake of an escalating opioid crisis, members of a joint Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee gave the green light to an over-the- counter (OTC) version of prescription naloxone nasal spray, an opioid overdose reversal agent.

Every member of the Nonprescription Drugs Advisory Committee (NDAC) and the Anesthetic and Analgesic Drug Products Advisory Committee (AADPAC) agreed that the evidence of benefits from switching the drug to OTC status far outweighs the minimal risks.

"The unanimity of the committee is a profound statement about how important this is," voting member Jeffrey Brent, MD, PhD, distinguished clinical professor of medicine and emergency medicine, University of Colorado, Aurora, said during the meeting.

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/988378
 
I'm not clear on the relevance of this particular pharmaceutical announcement to canoeing, but I'll leave it up since topics do range a bit wider in the off season.
 
I was wondering that myself. I know I had to learn the proper way to administer naloxone when I was directing the college's outdoor program but it had nothing to do with canoeing...just more first aid knowledge and training.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper
 
I'm not clear on the relevance of this particular pharmaceutical announcement to canoeing, but I'll leave it up since topics do range a bit wider in the off season.

Glenn, the boundary between canoeing first aid and street first aid is fluid. We might encounter an OD patient while driving home from a canoe trip, or even on the river bank. Maybe it's unlikely that a person with a substance use disorder would come on our trips, but we can't vet all the participants thoroughly enough to rule it out. Like Snapper, we will always benefit from being prepared.

In any case this decision by FDA is a step in the right direction. You may think addiction is a moral failing, a disease, an expression of unresolved psychological conflicts, or whatever. Regardless, it's certain that an addicted person cannot benefit from treatment or recover through some other pathway if they are dead. Narcan at least gives them a bit of a chance.

This is good news no matter what the season.
 
Canada's had that legislation for a few years now, and I know several guides and instructors (myself included) that carry it in their kits, you never know when that teen or client may bring along something that requires it. One key problem is that it generally only lasts about 15-20 minutes and may take multiple doses so an OD emergency is still that- an emergency.
the good thing is that it has very little medical repercussions if it turns out the issue isn't an opioid.
 
There have been trials of narcon during non-overdose first aid, such as a patient in shock. It was not convincingly effective

Boeuf B, Poirier V, Gauvin F, Guerguerian AM, Roy C, Farrell CA, Lacroix J (2003). "Naloxone for shock". The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2010 (4): CD004443. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD004443. PMC 9036847. PMID 14584016.
 
I've been wanting the school to include an AED in our canoe tripping med kit for years, but thanks for the idea, I'm certainly going to recommend the anti opiate thing now too, fentnyl is everywhere now, and a kid innocently smuggling some weed into a trip could end up OD'd.
 
I've been wanting the school to include an AED in our canoe tripping med kit for years, but thanks for the idea, I'm certainly going to recommend the anti opiate thing now too, fentnyl is everywhere now, and a kid innocently smuggling some weed into a trip could end up OD'd.
Mem, my wife, a retired RN, reminds everyone to make sure the patient and the rescuers are out of the water before using the AED.
 
Naloxone has no effect on weed OD
AED is marginally useful on a canoe trip as most deaths are not from cardiac causes and don't involve V fib
They do involve airway obstruction or lack of oxygen. Fix that first .
Usually defib is followed by ACLS protocol involving several IV meds
 
Well, I was thinking of the AED for myself, actually, lol. I'm back at work full time now, and if I get a trip off the ground this spring, I would like to know the kids could bring me back. I know naloxone has no effect on weed, and as long as the kids are getting their weed from a government dispensary, there will be no worries, but there have been cases up here of fentanyl mixed in with weed to increase the potency, unknown to the consumers.
 
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