NYS agency renews Narcan contract, rejecting calls for competitive bidding

ALBANY – The state Health Department on Thursday renewed its contract for the traditional antidote to opioid overdoses known as Narcan, rejecting for now efforts by patient advocates and drug companies to open the process for competitive bidding.

Eleven recovery groups and health care facilities including Drug Free Long Island sent a letter last month to the state comptroller’s office, which oversees state contracts, urging that open, competitive bidding be required. They argued that it would strengthen New York’s fight against deadly synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl, and save taxpayers money.

The $21 million annual contract expired Wednesday, but was renewed for a year under an option allowed in the contract, according to the Health Department. The department issued a “standing order” in August 2022 that allows first responders to quickly obtain Narcan without obtaining individual prescriptions and approvals.

Health Department spokeswoman Cadence Acquaviva said, “The department still considers 4mg of naloxone to be the most effective and efficient opioid antagonist on the market and it remains the only antagonist in the state’s standing order.”

The effort by the advocates and health care providers to open the state’s contract to competing bids for cheaper versions of the active ingredient in Narcan comes as some drug companies are seeking to include a different federally approved drug, which some studies show can reverse opioid overdoes faster.

Opvee is a new product based on the nalmefene drug and is designed to act faster than the brand-name product Narcan particularly in fentanyl overdoses.

In contrast, Narcan is based on the naloxone drug, which has a long track record of effectiveness and is still the most widely used reversal agent for opioid overdoses.

The advocacy groups noted that at least four “overdose reversal agents” equivalent to Narcan have been approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration since 2021 at “steeply lower costs.”

Some police agencies have started carrying the new drug, known by the brand name Opvee, along with Narcan at their own expense because they say Opvee can work faster in some emergencies.

State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s office last month advised the department that it wants the advocates’ concerns to be “addressed in any future submissions” concerning the contract.

In discussing the Health Department’s extension of the Narcan contract, Acquaviva said, “The department also continues to explore potential procurement options for a new contract.”

Those “potential procurement options” would include only brands based on the naloxone drug, the basis of Narcan; and not emerging new drugs like Opvee based on nalmefene, she said.

A spokeswoman for the company that produces Opvee didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Narcan’s manufacturer, Emergent BioSolutions, has received $66 million in exclusive state contracts since 2017 to provide the product to state and local authorities, state records show.

In Nassau County, Narcan kits have been placed in county buildings and parks since 2023. Suffolk County put Narcan kits in its county buildings beginning in 2020.

But advocates and some drug companies say the strategy needs updating as Opioid deaths have been driven by synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl, according to the state’s 2023 Opioid Annual Report. The report found that between 2015 and 2021, opioid deaths involving synthetics rose 587.7%, to 4,595 deaths in 2021 statewide.

“Given the critical need for effective overdose reversal agents, we certainly support the contact going out to bid,” said William Van Slyke, chief operating officer of Capital Health Consulting, which provides lobbying, consulting and communications to the health care industry and advocacy groups. “There is no reason to wait a full year … there is an imperative here to move quickly.”

By Michael Gormley

michael.gormley@newsday.com@GormleyAlbany

Michael Gormley has worked for Newsday since 2013, covering state government, politics and issues. He has covered Albany since 2001.