Health Care — A key hurdle for over-the-counter naloxone

We should all try to be on our phones less, but not so much that we can’t be reached. This is the case for the rapper known as Ye, whose former lawyers want to run newspaper ads so he’s aware they’re not representing him anymore. 

In health news, Moderna jumps into the older adult RSV vaccine marketplace. But first, a look at the FDA’s push for over-the-counter naloxone.  

Welcome to Overnight Health Care, where we’re following the latest moves on policy and news affecting your health. For The Hill, we’re Nathaniel Weixel and Joseph Choi. Someone forward you this newsletter?

Those most at risk won’t be helped by OTC naloxone

The Biden administration’s push to make some forms of opioid overdose reversal drugs available over the counter will likely have little impact on the people who need it most, public health advocates warn. 

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) late last year began encouraging drug companies to apply to switch some forms of the drug away from prescription only, a move that advocates have long been pressing for as a way to increase access to a lifesaving drug. 

• Naloxone is currently only available as a prescription, though all 50 states have found workarounds to make the drug available at the pharmacy without a prescription.  
• Yet the people who need naloxone the most are also the least likely to go to a pharmacy and request it. 

Key issue: There are only two companies that have been granted fast-track priority review to sell naloxone over the counter, and harm reduction advocates say the cost is a major barrier.  

The FDA is likely to approve naloxone as a nasal spray, which costs significantly more for harm reduction groups than an injection kit.  

“We’re really thrilled to have an OTC [over-the-counter] product on the horizon. But there’s a huge, enormous caveat,” said Maya Doe-Simkins, a co-director of the nonprofit group Remedy Alliance/For The People. “The nasal sprays are just, you know, magnitudes of 10 or 100 more expensive than generic injectables.” 

Read more here. 

Veterans in suicidal crisis can now seek free care

Veterans who are in a suicidal crisis can now seek emergency care at any medical facility at no cost to them. 

Starting Tuesday, veterans will have free access to inpatient care or crisis residential care for up to 30 days and outpatient care for up to 90 days, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) said in a press release last week. 

• The VA says the program will lift the burden of expensive treatment costs for veterans and provide acute suicide care access for up to 9 million veterans who are not enrolled with the federal…