Non-profit Harm Reduction Therapeutics (HRT) announced that it has filled the first order for RiVive naloxone nasal spray, which was approved by the FDA in July 2023 as an over-the-counter medication for the treatment of opioid overdose. RiVive, which is being manufactured by Catalent at its Morrisville, North Carolina facility, will be more available more broadly in early 2024, the company said. The nasal spray is to be sold at low cost or provided at no cost.
The first doses were shipped to an organization called Remedy Alliance/For the People, which will distribute RiVive to harm reduction programs at low cost. HRT had previously committed to a donation of 200,000 doses to Remedy Alliance, and the company says that it has also sold an additional 28,000 twin packs of the nasal spray to the organization. According to HRT, it is initially selling the twin packs for $36 apiece.
HRT CEO Michael Hufford commented, “With the manufacturing of FDA-approved OTC RiVive well underway, we now need additional funding partners so that naloxone can be made as widely available as possible to help stem the tide of fentanyl and other opioid overdose deaths across the US. Charitable funding will allow us to further reduce the selling price of RiVive or make more doses available to local community organizations free of charge.”
Remedy Alliance/For the People Director Eliza Wheeler said, “Harm reduction programs were the original innovators of community-based naloxone distribution almost 30 years ago. HRT’s product donation is a game changer: We will be able to provide an affordable OTC naloxone nasal spray in addition to generic injectable naloxone to the programs we work with, over 80% of which are inadequately funded or do not receive enough affordable naloxone from other sources.”
Read the Harm Reduction Therapeutics press release.
