(CNN) The company whose drugs are at the center of America's deadly opioid epidemic was given a green light Wednesday to accelerate the development of a new opioid antidote.

The US Food and Drug Administration granted Purdue Pharma's experimental opioid overdose drug fast-track designation. According to Purdue, its drug, nalmefene hydrochloride injection , has a longer effect than naloxone, another opioid antagonist that is approved to reverse overdoses.

The FDA's fast-track designation facilitates the development and expedites the review of drugs that treat serious conditions and fill an unmet medical need. "If approved, the duration of effect of nalmefene HCl injection has the potential to serve as an important alternative for the treatment of opioid overdose," Purdue said in a statement.

In 2017, over 47,000 US drug overdose deaths were attributed to opioids, and more than half involved synthetic narcotics, like illicit fentanyl.

"The Fast Track designation from the FDA for nalmefene HCl underscores the importance and time sensitivity of this unmet medical need. We will continue our efforts to make nalmefene HCl injection available as quickly as possible, as it has the potential to be an important option to help address this public health emergency," Dr. Craig Landau, president and CEO of Purdue Pharma, said in a statement.