The nasal spray reverses opioid overdoses and public health officials hope that making it more widely available could save lives and reduce the nation’s high rates of drug fatalities.
The Food and Drug Administration is expected this week to allow the overdose-reversal medication to be sold without a prescription, a step toward making it a common emergency tool.
The overdose reversal drug has been administered mostly by emergency responders and outreach workers. If the agency approves a nonprescription version, it could become as easily available as aspirin.