BARNSTABLE – Gosnold on Cape Cod is helping local police and emergency personnel who respond to heroin overdoses.
The treatment center has received 1,000 units of the drug Evzio from its maker Kaléo and will be distributing them across the Cape.
Gosnold CEO Ray Tamasi said the drug, which reverses the effects of an opioid overdose, is the same as Narcan but has a different delivery method.
“This is quite an interesting construct,” Tamasi said. “It’s an auto-injector like an Epipen that people use to inject themselves if they have allergic reactions.”
Tamasi discussed the epidemic here on the Cape with the company and expressed concerns with the rising prices of Narcan, which has been supplied to local police and first responders.
Tamasi says he met with local police chiefs last week and hopes to have the free doses distributed next week.
“Hopefully we’ll help to prevent more overdose deaths,” he said. “We’re very happy with the partnership with Kaléo and we are very pleased to have an opportunity to get this out to the folks that are on the front lines.”
Tamasi said Evzio, which is about the size of a deck of cards, is a quicker delivery system for the first responders than Narcan, which is administered nasally.
The dose can be administered in about 10 seconds.
Evzio and Narcan are both brand names of the drug naloxone.
