NORTHAMPTON — A state fund that helps reduce the cost of the lifesaving overdose-reversal drug Narcan for municipalities received a financial boost in recent days, six months after the price shot up when the pool of money ran dry.
The contributions totaling $300,000 include $250,000 from Attorney General Maura Healey’s office from a 2015 settlement with an opioid manufacturer, and $50,000 from RIZE Massachusetts, a statewide private sector initiative created to build a $50 million fund to fight the opioid crisis.
“These funds are important in reducing the costs for municipalities in order to put the drug into the hands of more first responders,” said Cherry Sullivan, program coordinator at Hampshire HOPE, a countywide coalition from the Northampton Department of Health that purchases Narcan, generically known as naloxone, from the bulk program and supplies first responders around Hampshire County.
The state buys Narcan in bulk at discounted prices from pharmaceutical companies, using the money from the state municipal naloxone bulk purchase trust fund. The state then passes on the discount to organizations like Hampshire HOPE and other municipalities.
The bulk purchase fund started in 2015 with $100,000 in state money and $325,000 from a settlement.
When the fund ran out of money on Oct. 1, the cost of naloxone shot up from $40 to $71.02 for a box of two doses of the nasal spray, and from $20 to $29.28 for a syringe.
Hampshire HOPE has been purchasing Narcan from the bulk purchasing program at the inflated cost since earlier this year through a through a federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration grant of $1.7 million over four years.
“Having more access to Narcan is important because it’s taking more of the drug to revive people,” Sullivan said. “We’ve been hearing from first responders in the field that before, it might take only one dose, but now it could take more than just that.”
The recent contributions will reduce Narcan costs for first responders to pre-October levels, said Ann Scales, spokeswoman for the state Department of Health.
“(The) $250,000 would discount the naloxone cost to $20 per dose for first responders,” Scales said. “At the current prices, the $250,000 would allow 16,000 doses to be discounted to this price.”
Northampton Police Sgt. Brian Letzeisen said the department used to purchase Narcan through the state office of pharmacy services, but purchasing the drug through Hampshire HOPE is more cost-effective and efficient.
“Being able to purchase it through Hampshire HOPE has helped us immensely. Each officer now carries 4 milligram doses of the nasal spray,” Letzeisen said. “We keep a supply at the station and if we need more, I notify the chief or our representative at Hampshire HOPE and it is replenished within a few days.”
Letzeisen said he agrees that it could take more Narcan than it used to revive a person from an opioid overdose. For 2017 alone in Northampton, he said, 35 doses were administered to 16 patients, saving 13 lives.
“I was one of the first officers to administer Narcan in Northampton,” Letzeisen said. “I once had to give my two doses to a person, another officer gave one, the fire department gave another, and the person was not fully back to it until he was at the hospital a half an hour later.”
Amherst Police Capt. Jennifer Gundersen said the Narcan the department received from Hampshire HOPE has saved lives in the town.
“We’ve utilized the Narcan and we certainly think it’s a valuable tool to save lives,” Gundersen said. “We have a limited budget for expenditures such as this, so having Hampshire HOPE is extremely helpful.”
The $300,000 contribution to the state fund is not recurring, and state legislators are pushing for the state to commit more funds in the fiscal 2019 state budget. State Rep. Andres X. Vargas, D-Haverhill, has submitted an amendment to the budget to provide $350,000 more in state money to the trust fund.
However, the trust fund accepts and encourages private donations, Scales said.
Sullivan said the reduced cost for Narcan would not only allow for first responders to carry more, but also provide the organization an opportunity to pursue community-based programs to supply residents with the lifesaving drug.
“If we’re going out and we see a need for this drug to be in a certain area, maybe a place with a high concentration of overdoses … we want to make sure these folks in that community are equipped,” Sullivan said. “We can reach deeper in the community and make sure this gets out to every municipality in Hampshire County.”