Kanada. Naloxone nasal spray began as a remedy for binge eating, CEO says
Kanada. Naloxone nasal spray began as a remedy for binge eating, CEO says
Opiant Pharmaceuticals chief exec Roger Crystal reveals opioid crisis caused company to pivot
Roger Crystal's company was struggling to find new uses for an old drug that reverses overdoses. Then the North American opioid epidemic hit.
Naloxone, a medicine called an antagonist that counteracts the effects of opioids, had first gone on sale in 1971 but is injected with a syringe. It requires a small amount of training to know how to administer it to someone who is overdosing.
Crystal and his colleagues came up with a naloxone nasal spray, intended to be more appealing and easier to administer than prefilled injectors or the other naloxone alternatives.
Crystal's California-based Opiant Pharmaceuticals Inc. partnered with Irish company Adapt Pharma to market the spray version under the brand name Narcan. (CBC News Kanada, 01.01.2018)
http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/narcan-naloxone-nasal-spray-interview-roger-crystal-1.4469235