Attorney General George Jepsen is probing a price increase for opioid-overdose antidote Narcan, which he described as sudden and unexpected.
Jepsen wrote a letter this week to California-based Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, which makes the drug — formally known as Naloxone — asking for more information on the price increase.
Jepsen said he is concerned that the drug’s higher price will burden Connecticut first responders, who stock the drug to reverse heroin and opioid overdoses.
Connecticut passed a law last year allowing state police to carry and administer the drug to overdose victims. Jepsen said in his letter to Amphastar that the law has saved as many as 34 lives in the state since. Heroin played a role in 306 fatalities in Connecticut last year, Jepsen said.
“To date, I have yet to see any public justification from Amphastar for these increases,” Jepsen wrote. “In the face of a public health crisis and at a crucial time in our battle to save lives that may be lost to the scourge of opioid abuse and addiction, these price increases will undoubtedly make our efforts to save lives much more difficult.”
Officials in other Northeast states have also questioned the price increases, which began last year.
The Boston Globe and New York Times have reported price increases of as much as 50 percent in some areas.
Jepsen may have his eye on New York, which successfully negotiated a $6 rebate per dose for emergency responders earlier this year.
