Boston Medical Center receives funding for pharmacy-based naloxone rescue kits study

Boston Medical Center has received a $1.3-million grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to support a demonstration project of pharmacy-based naloxone rescue kits to help reduce opioid addiction and overdose death in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

The study will be conducted in partnership with Rhode Island Hospital in Providence; CVS Health, based in Woonsocket, Rhode Island; and several local community pharmacies in both states, including Massachusetts-based Eaton Apothecary.

"While education and intervention have come a long way in the past several years, there is still a lot of work to be done to reduce opioid overdose and overdose death," Traci C. Green, the study's principal investigator, deputy director of the Injury Prevention Center at BMC and associate professor of emergency medicine at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, said.

In both states, pharmacists must be trained to distribute naloxone rescue kits through continuing education that covers opioid addiction, overdose risk and the benefits of appropriate use of naloxone. The study will track and analyze data from the participating pharmacies throughout the two states to develop best practices for a national pharmacy-based naloxone rescue kit program.

"Pharmacies have enormous potential to expand the reach and impact of critical public health interventions, just as we have seen happen with pharmacy access to clean syringes and adult immunizations,” Green said. “But how do we do that with naloxone rescue kits? That's what we intend to figure out here in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.”