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| The Evzio Auto-Injector in its case--Courtesy of kaléo |
In a win for the Clinton Foundation's goal of preventing 10,000 prescription drug-related deaths over 5 years, privately held kaléo agreed to sell its Evzio Auto-Injector to universities and other institutional buyers at the low federal price.
The company announced the initiative at the Clinton Foundation's Health Matters Annual Activation Summit in La Quinta, CA. "I am pleased kaléo has taken this important step with our Health Matters Initiative to create a nationwide expansion of this lifesaving medication by establishing a more predictable and affordable pricing arrangement for law enforcement professionals, community programs, and colleges and universities around the country," said President Bill Clinton in a statement.
Insured buyers can purchase Evzio for less than $30, but those without insurance have to pay several hundred dollars, kaléo CEO Spencer Williamson told the Huffington Post. He said that the wholesale price for one unit of the product, which includes two of the devices and a training device, costs $575.
Williamson declined to tell the Huffington Post the extent of the upcoming discount, saying that federal supply price is constantly changing.
Clinton Foundation CEO Rain Henderson told the Huffington Post at the summit that "you can't go any lower than the rates that the federal government gets."
The Evzio delivers the common overdose antidote naloxone. "The manufacturing landscape has been changing quite dramatically, and the pricing and the availability of naloxone has been unpredictable," Henderson said in the article. "That makes it very hard for community groups, organizations [and] policymakers to plan for how to purchase Evzio."
"For us, the point was to create a predictable and affordable supply," she continued, "so you could have more organizations purchasing naloxone and using a device like the Evzio auto-injector to save people's lives."
Hand-held, single-use Evzio gives users voice and visual instructions describing how to inject the overdose patient. The naloxone-delivering device was fast-tracked and received FDA approval last April. The company met with the FDA and the Clinton Foundation that same month to discuss ways to expand access to naloxone, according to the release, which says the announcement is the result of that effort.
Evzio is not a substitute for emergency care but is designed to keep the victim breathing until first responders arrive. It is the only FDA-approved product for immediate administration as an emergency treatment, the company says.
Others are scrambling to develop new versions of naloxone-based therapy. In May, AntiOp partnered with Reckitt Benckiser on its nasally administered formulation. The candidate received the FDA's Fast Track Designation in July.
Kaléo says 44 people die every day in the U.S. from prescription opioids.
- read the release
- here's more in the Huffington Post