According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), there is an epidemic of opioid overdose victims in the United States that claims a new victim every 36 minutes or 5,000 people a year. With the widespread physician prescribing of legal, FDA approved opiates like Vicodin, Percocet and OxyContin, users who run out of a prescription or can’t afford one have been turning to heroin, which costs as little as five dollars per “hit.”
The air waves are now filled with stories of families who have lost loved ones to heroin addiction. In effect, heroin relaxes the body so that muscles no longer operate, leading to asphyxiation, reducing heartbeats to abnormally low levels and paralyzing critical brain functions, all causing death.
Evizo (Image Courtesy www.evzio.com)
In Massachusetts, where the epidemic is particularly strong, police now carry a portable nasal spray and used it 179 times in 2013, reversing 170 of 179 overdoses, a 98% success rate.
The FDA recently approved an easy to use, hand held auto-injector, called “Evzio”, for emergency treatment of opioid overdoses. Evzio delivers an overdose antidote “nalozone hydrochloride” which reverses physiological problems brought on by opioid overdoses, often saving a victim’s life.
Taking A Victim To The Emergency Room Is “Too Late”
Much like heart attack victims who can be helped dramatically by on-site defibrillators, on-site Evzios used by trained caregivers and family members can help save lives. Evzio is now available by prescription and its approval by the FDA was applauded by the American Medical Association. (AMA)
The Device Buys Patients Some Time
The Evzio is like an “Epi_Pen” and allows the administration of a single dose of the drug which begins to reverse life-threatening issues. As drug addicts often mix several drugs together getting a victim to the hospital to be cared for by doctors is still very important.
