Oakland County Officials Will Use New Drug To Fight Opioid Overdoses

OAKLAND COUNTY, MI — Officials within the Oakland County Sheriff's Office will become the first agency in the nation to use a new medication to fight opioid overdoses.

Starting this week, officials will begin using Opvee to treat overdoses of natural and synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl. Opvee, a life-saving nasal spray made by Indivior, was approved by the FDA in May.

Sheriff Michael Bouchard said the ground-breaking drug gives hope to what was often a hopeless situation for officers and first responders.

"Advances such as this new medication allow us the opportunity to save more lives and give them a second chance," Bouchard said. "When I first pushed to allow law enforcement to administer a drug to save lives, oddly there was pushback. Now, everyone understands the scope of this national health emergency and how many lives are affected. We all must do everything in our power to help those struggling with substance abuse disorder."

Opvee is used similarly to naloxone, which more commonly known by its brand name Narcan. Opvee stays in the system for as long as 10 hours and is more effective in reversing the effects of opioids, specifically synthetic opioids than naloxone, which only stay in the system for up to 90 minutes.

Bouchard said that there was a "seven-fold" increase in the number of overdoses involving either fentanyl or synthetic fentanyl between 2015 and 2021. He also said that the drugs accounted for two-thirds of overdose deaths which totaled 107,000 in 2021, according to the National Center on Health Statistics.

The sheriff’s office has partnered with Indivior, the Virginia-based manufacturer of Opvee, as well as the Alliance of Coalitions for Healthy Communities and Oakland Community Health Network, which is paying the initial $7,500 cost for 100 boxes of the drug, Bouchard said.

Sheriff’s road patrol, corrections and reserve officers, totaling roughly 1,200, are all trained in the use of Narcan, Bouchard said.

Opvee training takes less than 30 minutes and should be completed within the agency in about a month. Deputies in the Pontiac substation are the first to receive the training, Bouchard said.

"Oakland Community Health Network welcomes opportunities to join life-saving initiatives, such as piloting the use of Opvee," Oakland Community Health Network executive director and CEO Dana Lasenby said. "The hope is for OPVEE to join Narcan as an additional tool to respond to people experiencing opioid over does, especially in situations involving synthetic opioids like fentanyl."