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Officials said the price of naloxone, or Narcan, is expected to double.

(Ocean County Prosecutor's Office)

The price of a powerful opioid antidote used to save heroin users during an overdose will double, officials were informed this week, leading to concerns about the future implementation of the tool, which has saved more than 220 lives in New Jersey since April.

County officials and addiction experts learned in recent days that the manufacturer of nasally-induced Naloxone, or Narcan, will raise prices to cope with burgeoning demand. The drug clears and blocks opioid receptors in the brain in minutes, and can rip an overdosing heroin user from the brink of death in minutes.

“I think it’s absurd, but evidently it’s supply and demand. I wish they would just keep making it and enjoy the profits they were already reaping,” said Kenneth LaVelle, a doctor and former paramedic who has championed the drug’s use in New Jersey in recent years. “It should be somewhat criminal that they’re doing it.”

The decision comes months after New Jersey expanded use of the drug to first responders, and increasingly, the general public. In Monmouth and Ocean counties, where pilot programs to issue naloxone to first responders began in April and May, respectively, it has been successfully used more than 200 times to reverse potentially fatal overdoses.

“It could certainly affect the program,” said Al Della Fave, a spokesman for the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office. “The prosecutor is planning to reach out to the U.S. Attorney’s Office to see if anything can be done about it.”

The price increase comes at a time when demand is the highest its ever been. There were 741 heroin-related deaths in New Jersey in 2013, according to the state Attorney General’s office, a 160 percent increase since 2010. And with 501 drug-related deaths in New Jersey testing positive for other opioids last year, the number of opioid-related deaths was likely significantly higher.

While most counties only began equipping first responders with naloxone late this summer, in Ocean County there are already signs that it is having an impact on overdose deaths. Della Fave said naloxone has been successfully used to reverse 113 potential overdoses, and the number of suspected opioid-related deaths has dropped from 100 at this time last year to 66 in 2014 through Monday.

Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni called the cost increase "unfortunate."



"I think that elected officials in these municipalities, that people across the county, they understand the severity of the heroin problem that we see in Monmouth County and New Jersey," Gramiccioni said. "I'd like to think there's going to be an acceptance and an acknowledgement that the prices went up but this is still something that we need to supply."



Gramiccioni said that while the cost has gone up, police departments still need to keep naloxone on hand.



"It's obvious this puts more pressure on the budgets in every municipality but equally so, I think it's clear that it's a necessity," he said. "It's something that has to be available to police to deploy to save people's lives. We pull out all the stops to try to save people's lives and in this instance it's no different."

Amphastar, a California-based pharmaceutical company, is currently the sole manufacturer of nasally-delivered naloxone. The company did not return calls for comment.

Exact costs are unclear, but several officials told NJ Advance Media that naloxone had previously cost between $20 and $40 per dose.

The state Attorney General office is aware of prosecutors’ concerns about the increase and is monitoring the situation, but does not expect it to impact the implementation of the drug in the field in the immediate future.

Naloxone has always been considered a cost-effective tool, and while the increase may not be what budget-conscious municipalities want to hear, Lavelle is hopeful it won’t have a major impact on its increased use across the state.

“It’s frustrating that I’ve seen the prices increase at no particular benefit,” he said. “And of course we don’t know that it ends here. We had anticipated this might happen because there’s only one supplier. It’s not the most horrible thing, but it’s not excellent either.”