The New York Times (8/30, Hoffman, Weiland) reports, “Narcan, the first opioid overdose reversal medication approved for over-the-counter purchase, is being shipped to drugstore and grocery chains nationwide, its manufacturer said Wednesday.” Earlier this summer, the FDA “gave over-the-counter approval to RiVive, a naloxone spray expected in early 2024. RiVive, manufactured by Harm Reduction Therapeutics, is intended as a low-cost product largely for outreach groups.” Pharmacies at “Walgreens, CVS, Walmart and Rite Aid said they expected Narcan to be available online and on many store shelves early next week.”

NBC News (8/30, Lovelace) reports the FDA’s approval means the drug “can be sold in even more places, including…airports and even vending machines.” It “could also be available to buy online from some businesses this week.” However, its price tag of $44.99 for two doses “may put it out of reach for some.”

CNN (8/30, Tirrell, Kounang) also reports.

Related Links:

— “Narcan Is Headed to Stores: What You Need to Know,”Jan Hoffman and Noah Weiland, The New York Times , August 30, 2023

CNN (8/29, Howard) reports, “A group of novel synthetic opioids emerging in illicit drugs in the United States may be more powerful than fentanyl, 1,000 times more potent than morphine, and may even require more doses of the medication naloxone to reverse an overdose, a new study suggests.” The new opioid, nitazenes, “are a synthetic opioid, like fentanyl, although the two drugs are not structurally related. In the small study published Tuesday in the journal JAMA Network Open most of the patients who overdosed on nitazenes received two or more doses of the opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone, whereas most patients who overdosed on fentanyl received only a single dose of naloxone.”

Related Links:

— “Emerging group of synthetic opioids may be more potent than fentanyl, study warns,”Jacqueline Howard, CNN, August 29, 2023

mHealth Intelligence (8/29, Vaidya) reports, “Telemental healthcare utilization, which skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic, remains ‘persistent and elevated,’ according to new research.” A study “published in JAMA Health Forum detailed an assessment of monthly telehealth and in-person utilization and spending for mental health services among commercially insured US adults between 2019 and 2022.” The research “shows that in-person visits decreased by 39.5 percent, and telehealth visits increased roughly ten-fold by 1,019.3 percent during the acute phase compared with the year prior.” Overall, “this represents a 22.3 percent increase in overall utilization of mental health services.”

Related Links:

— “Telemental Healthcare Grew Ten-Fold During Pandemic, Remains ‘Elevated’,”Anuja Vaidya, mHealth Intelligence, August 29, 2023

MedPage Today (8/29, DePeau-Wilson) reports, “Therapeutic doses of some selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) may lead to cardiotoxic concentration levels associated with increased risk of arrhythmia in certain groups of patients, including those 65 and up,” investigators concluded in the findings of a 19,742-patient study published online ahead of print in the journal eBioMedicine. For the study, “patients had to have a” therapeutic drug monitoring “measurement of escitalopram or citalopram within the limits of quantification for inclusion.” The study revealed that in “patients 65 and over taking escitalopram (Lexapro) daily, about 20% were predicted to reach potentially pro-arrhythmic concentrations with a 10-mg dose, which increased to about 60% with a 20-mg dose.”

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

The New York Times (8/29, Richtel) reports, “More than one-fifth of people who use cannabis struggle with dependency or problematic use, according to” findings published online Aug. 29 in JAMA Network Open. The study, which “drew its data from nearly 1,500 primary care patients in Washington State, where recreational use is legal, in an effort to explore the prevalence of cannabis use disorder among both medical and nonmedical users,” revealed that “21 percent of people in the study had some degree of cannabis use disorder, which clinicians characterize broadly as problematic use of cannabis that leads to a variety of symptoms, such as recurrent social and occupational problems, indicating impairment and distress.”
       
According to CNN (8/29, LaMotte), “using both medical and recreational weed led to a more severe addiction than using medical marijuana alone, the study” concluded. This study’s findings mirror those “from other countries such as the Netherlands, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and France.” In fact, “a 2020 meta-analysis of those countries and the US found 22% of cannabis users would develop a cannabis disorder during their lifetime – the risk rose to 33% for younger people who engaged in weekly or daily use of weed.”

Related Links:

— “Cannabis Use Disorder Is ‘Common’ Among Marijuana Users, Study Finds,”Matt Richtel, The New York Times, August 29, 2023