By Nick Gale, WLS-AM 890 News
(CHICAGO) — AptarGroup and Adapt Pharma has donated 4,000 doses of NARCAN nasal spray to the Illinois Department of Public Health, with another 1,000 doses scheduled to go to the McHenry County Substance Abuse Coalition.
Public health officials will have a total of 3,400 doses to provide to the Illinois State Police and the Department of Corrections; an additional 600 will go to the Chicago Recovery Alliance. State troopers carry the emergency therapy in their squad cars. The Department of Corrections plans to distribute its supply among parole officers for field use.
AptarGroup, based in Crystal Lake, and Adapt, which has its U.S. headquarters in Pennsylvania, collaborated on a nasal spray system for naloxone that delivers a concentrated 4-milligram dose without any required assembly, medical training or needle injection.
“Naloxone is a life-saver,” Gov. Bruce Rauner said. “We will continue to fight the root causes of this epidemic, but meanwhile, this generous donation is most welcome and appreciated.”
Nearly 1,950 people died of opioid overdoses in Illinois in 2016, an 82 percent increase in just three years. Synthetic opioids such as fentanyl and its analogues are disproportionately contributing to the rise in both fatal and nonfatal overdoses in the state, with a tenfold increase from 2013 to 2016.
AptarGroup CEO Stephan Tanda said his company is proud to have developed the innovative drug delivery and dispensing solution, and happy to collaborate with Adapt, which has a U.S. headquarters in Pennsylvania.
“We are pleased to partner with Adapt Pharma, the State of Illinois, Chicago Recovery Alliance and the McHenry County Substance Abuse Coalition to help address the opioid epidemic in our own backyard,” Tanda said. “Raising awareness of the crisis and making these potentially life-saving doses more accessible to those who most need them will have a lasting impact on our community.”
“Every day, hundreds of lives are forever changed by the opioid epidemic,” said Seamus Mulligan, chairman and CEO at Adapt Pharma. “NARCAN nasal spray is an effective emergency treatment that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose when an adequate dose is administered in time. We are proud to work with Aptar and the State of Illinois to ensure this critical intervention tool is more readily available and in the hands of those most likely to witness an overdose.”
@ 2018 WLS-AM News
