Giving Compass' Take:

• A new study indicates that only a small portion of individuals considered high risk for an opioid overdose can obtain a prescription for naloxone. 

• How can the medical community ensure that more patients in need are gaining access? What are the steps to increasing access for high-risk individuals? 

• Read how some states are reducing opioid overdoses without a prescription. 

Only a tiny minority of people at risk for an opioid overdose actually get a prescription for naloxone, a drug that could save their lives, a new study suggests.

Further, the odds that some of the most at-risk groups, including those who have already survived a previous opioid overdose, will have a dose of the rescue drug on hand remain very low.

In all, less than 2% of people who had at least one of the main risk factors for opioid overdose had filled a prescription for the life-saving drug naloxone in the last six months of the study period. The percentage was no higher for those who had already survived an opioid overdose or had a formal diagnosis of opioid use disorder, some of the most concerning risk factors for overdose.

This means that those prescribing naloxone, which can reverse an overdose of any type of opioid, from prescription pain medicines to heroin, may miss a large proportion of those at highest risk, researchers say.

Opioid overdose can occur when someone takes too much of an opioid-containing drug accidentally or on purpose, or when an opioid interacts with another prescription drug, alcohol, or an underlying health condition. Naloxone, given using an injection or nasal spray, can reverse the effects of the opioid.

While the new study shows that naloxone prescription fills from adults with private health insurance rose during the study period from January 2014 to mid-2017, the percentage of patients receiving it remains very low.

Read the full article about naloxone by Kara Gavin at Futurity.