Brand Marketing

This Drug Saves Lives, but Good Luck Getting It

For drugmakers, Naloxone means opportunity—and controversy

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There are 700,000 heroin users in America, and they are dying from overdoses in record numbers—100 per day, by one estimate.

The good news is that a drug called naloxone, first developed in the ’60s and now available generically, works miracles by reversing overdoses instantly.

However, public health advocates are concerned by the stranglehold drugmakers have on the product.

“For the past two months—since the death of Philip Seymour Hoffman—my phone hasn’t stopped ringing,” said Dr.