Table of Contents
CAMP HILL, Pa. — Rite Aid Corp. has expanded nonprescription access to naloxone, an opioid-overdose reversal drug, to four more states.
Rite Aid said Tuesday that naloxone is now available without a prescription at more than 440 pharmacies in Kentucky, Ohio, Oregon and Vermont, subject to state regulations. Previously, naloxone — administered by injection or nasal spray — was only available with a doctor’s prescription.
“According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 78 people die from an opioid overdose in the United States each day,” Jocelyn Konrad, executive vice president of pharmacy at Rite Aid, said in a statement. “Rite Aid is committed to helping reduce the number deaths due to opioid overdoses, and making naloxone available without a prescription at our pharmacies in Kentucky, Ohio, Oregon and Vermont is an important action we can take in the fight against opioid abuse.”
Late last month, Rite Aid made naloxone is also available for purchase without patient-specific prescriptions at Rite Aid pharmacies in 13 states: Alabama, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Indiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.
The drug chain said that, to date, it has trained more than 10,000 pharmacists on naloxone dispensing, and it’s working to expand its naloxone dispensing program in other states where the medication is only available with a prescription.
