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A28 SCIENCE
Friday 21 december 2018
U.S. urges doctors to write more Rx for overdose antidote

By CARLA K. JOHNSON community programs we
AP Medical Writer know are successful in sav-
The U.S. government told ing lives," said Dr. Raeford
doctors Wednesday to E. Brown Jr., who heads an
consider prescribing medi- expert panel advising the
cations that reverse over- FDA.
doses to many more pa- The new guidance tells
tients who take opioid pain- doctors to consider pre-
killers in a move that could scribing the antidote to
add more than $1 billion in patients on high doses of
health care costs. opioids, heavy drinkers,
Assistant Secretary for people with sleep apnea
Health Brett Giroir, a doc- and other breathing prob-
tor appointed by President lems, people taking benzo-
Donald Trump, announced diazepines such as Xanax
the guidance, saying it's and people with addiction
important for doctors to dis- or mental health problems.
cuss overdose dangers with It expands upon a similar
patients. recommendation from the
Prescribing naloxone such Centers for Disease Control
as Narcan along with opi- and Prevention. In April, U.S.
oids forces a conversation In this Tuesday, July 3, 2018 file photo, a Narcan nasal device which delivers naloxone lies on a Surgeon General Jerome
that will lead to "a more in- counter as a health educator gives instructions on how to administer it in the Brooklyn borough of Adams issued the office's
formed decision by the pa- New York. first national public health
tient," he said. Associated Press advisory in 13 years, calling
The action comes a day on more Americans to start
after a close vote from a be an investment that is Naloxone comes in a na- Critics said prescribing the carrying naloxone and urg-
Food and Drug Administra- well worth it," Giroir said. sal spray, an injection and antidote to pain patients ing more federal money to
tion expert panel endorsing More than 47,600 Ameri- an automatic injector. The does not address the grow- be dedicated to broaden-
the idea of rewriting opi- cans died of opioid over- Narcan nasal spray costs ing share of fatal overdoses ing access. Most states al-
oid drug labels to include doses last year, a toll that about $125 for a two-dose caused by illicit opioids, low people to get naloxone
a naloxone recommen- has been rising for two de- kit, although government and could cause shortages from a pharmacy or com-
dation for many or all pa- cades. The street drug fen- programs can get it for less. for programs that hand out munity program under a
tients. An FDA document tanyl is the top killer today, The automatic injector can the kits to street drug users. statewide prescription and
said such a move could but prescription painkillers cost as much as $4,000 per It "will have the unintended some states require doctors
add more than $1 billion in are still a problem, contrib- kit, although its maker re- consequence of derailing to also prescribe naloxone
health care costs. uting to nearly 15,000 over- cently authorized a cheap- efforts to provide nalox- to patients on high doses of
"Even at a billion, it would dose deaths last year. er generic version. one to the very effective opioids.q

Scientists lobby Mexico president over

endangered porpoise

By MARK STEVENSON to catch totoaba, a fish "This is the only practical
Associated Press whose swim bladder com- option for effectively en-
MEXICO CITY (AP) — A mands astronomical prices forcing the law," wrote the
group of prominent sci- and is considered a deli- scientists, who included ex-
entists issued an appeal cacy in China. Vaquitas perts like Barbara Taylor at
Wednesday to Mexico's become entangled in the the U.S. National Oceanic
new president, Andres totoaba nets and drown. and Atmospheric Admin-
Manuel Lopez Obrador, While the Mexican govern- istration and Omar Vidal,
calling on him to take the ment has banned the use formerly of the World Wild-
In this July 8, 2017 file photo, a woman with the World Wildlife unprecedented step of of such nets in the vaquita's life Fund.
Fund carries a paper mache replica of the critically endan- outlawing the possession of known range, the rule has The letter also called on the
gered porpoise known as the "vaquita marina" during an event gill nets in the upper Gulf of been almost impossible to government "to protect the
in front of the National Palace calling on the government to take California to save the criti- enforce. vaquitas that still remain," a
additional steps to protect the world's smallest marine mammal, cally endangered vaquita So the scientists are calling daunting task but one that
in Mexico City. porpoise. in an open letter to Lopez recent research suggests
Associated Press
The vaquita is the world's Obrador's top environmen- can still be accomplished.
smallest and most endan- tal officials that the govern- A voyage by researchers in
gered porpoise, and lives ment ban possession of the late September sighted six
only in the Gulf, also known nets in the whole area. The or seven of the creatures,
as the Sea of Cortez. Ex- researchers also called for including a mother with a
perts say as few as 15 of the land patrols and inspec- new calf.
marine mammals remain in tions of boats setting out "Your administration can
the wild, and none have to sea to enforce the ban. save the vaquita and set
ever been held in captivity. At present, authorities pa- an example for Mexico and
The vaquita has been driv- trol the area but poachers the world," the scientists
en to the brink of extinc- often flee in high-powered wrote to Lopez Obrador.q
tion by gill nets set illegally boats and make it to shore.