The Hennepin County sheriff says his office has been given defective devices to distribute a drug that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose — a problem as the number of such overdoses has been on the rise.
The device from Teleflex Medical turns the injectable form of naloxone, known under the brand Narcan, into a mist that’s sprayed into the nose.
But the device has been recalled, notes Sheriff Rich Stanek.
“I expect 2016 will be a record-breaking year for overdose deaths in the county,” he said in a statement. “Due to this tragic increase, I consider this recall issue to be of the highest importance. We are dealing with an epidemic, and we need all the help we can get to save lives.”
Teleflex spokeswoman Susan Denby told the Minneapolis-based Star Tribune newspaper the company has been experiencing a temporary shortage of the device.
Cody Wiberg, executive director of the Minnesota Board of Pharmacy, tells The Associated Press there are alternatives to the Teleflex device, but they are more expensive.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported last month that deaths from opioid overdoses rose in Minnesota last year, especially among younger adults. At least 338 people died from opioid overdoses in 2015, up from 319 the previous year.
Opioids are a category of drugs that include heroin and prescription painkillers, and are highly addictive. Dependent users can die from overdose due their respiratory system shutting down. Prince died of an overdose of the opioid fentanyl in April.
Dana Farley, the Minnesota Department of Health’s alcohol and drug prevention policy director, said in December that synthetic opioids seem to have become more accessible recently, which could account for some of the deaths among younger users.
The number of people killed by opioid overdoses in Minnesota has risen steadily since 1999, but the state still fares better than others, such as West Virginia and Maine. The CDC awarded the state health department about $585,000 to develop more opioid overdose prevention plans, including a program for updated data collection and improvements to Minnesota’s prescription-monitoring program.
Adding to the frustration is the company’s continued shipment of the devices in question.
Stanek notes his office has received two additional shipments of the devices since the recall and both were part of the original recall list.
“We are in the business of saving lives, and it is difficult to do that if we can’t rely on equipment being sent to us,” Stanek said.