Any Californian can purchase naloxone, an opioid overdose reversal medication, directly from the state at a discounted price, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office announced Monday.
The medication is available online for $24 for a two-pack of the nasal spray, roughly half the market price of the drug. Previously, the discount was available only to government organizations and businesses.
“Life-saving medications shouldn’t come with a life-altering price tag. CalRx is about making essential drugs like naloxone affordable and accessible for all — not the privileged few,” Newsom said in a statement. CalRx is a Newsom initiative to bring down the cost of prescription drugs.
California has spent more than $1 billion fighting the opioid epidemic, which killed more than 8,900 people last year, according to preliminary data from the state health department. That represents a 13% increase in deaths from 2023.
The Naloxone Distribution Project and Access Initiative is part of the strategy to stop overdoses, which began spiking in 2019 as fentanyl, a highly potent synthetic opioid, infused the market. The rate of fentanyl-related overdose deaths began declining last year, according to state data.
More than 6 million naloxone kits have been distributed to local governments and organizations since 2018, according to state data. About 355,000 overdoses have been reversed.
In 2024, Newsom’s office announced a new supplier for the state initiative, Amneal Pharmaceuticals, which agreed to sell the steeply discounted drug to California. Days prior, Attorney General Rob Bonta announced a $273-million multistate settlement with the New Jersey-based company over its alleged failure to report suspicious opioid orders that contributed to the country’s epidemic.
“By getting this lower price, we are making the financial savings and able to use our dollars to buy more product, which of course is ultimately very much about saving lives,” said Elizabeth Landsberg, director of the Department of Health Care Access and Information, last year.
Naloxone is one of two current efforts by the state to make generic drugs more affordable under Newsom’s effort to lower the costs of pharmaceuticals. California has a $50-million contract to manufacture generic insulins for CalRx. That project is more than a year behind schedule.
By Kristen Hwang. Supported by the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), which works to ensure that people have access to the care they need, when they need it, at a price they can afford. Visit www.chcf.org to learn more. This article was originally published by CalMatters.
