Ohio reaches deal with maker of heroin overdose antidote

The maker of a heroin overdose antidote used by police in many states will give rebates to state and local agencies in Ohio after the state's top law enforcement official criticized a spike in the price of the drug. California-based Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Inc will offer a $6 rebate for each dose of the drug, naloxone, bought by non-federal public entities in Ohio in the next year, Attorney General Mike DeWine said Wednesday. Amphastar has also agreed to increase the rebate to match any further price increases in the next year, DeWine said. Law enforcement officials nationwide have embraced its use in the midst of an increase in opioid abuse, which U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has called an "urgent and growing public health crisis." The wholesale price of the drug, which hovered around $14 per dose in 2013 and early 2014, shot up to $28.50 by October, DeWine wrote in a letter in February to Amphastar asking it to cut the price of naloxone for public entities.



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