Dr. Sack Talks About Evzio with KCRW’s Madeleine Brand on Press Play

Dr. Sack recently spoke on-air with Madeleine Brand of NPR’s KCRW-FM during the ‘Press Play’ program. The segment on “Personal Overdose Device” discussed the FDA’s recent approval of Evzio, the first hand-held auto-injector to reverse opioid overdose. Evzio is specifically designed to be given by family members or caregivers instead of medical professionals.

Dr. Sack explains that Naloxone, a drug that has been around for 25 years and blocks the effects of opiate drugs, previously had to be administered by someone with medical training. With Evzio, Naloxone can now be self-administrated, or can be quickly used by a non-professional, in time to save someone’s life during an overdose. Dr. Sack also talks about the symptoms of an overdose and some of the reasons behind the rise of overdoses over the past decades.

One of the biggest points of conversation was whether or not this new drug will “allow” or “encourage” people to do more drugs. Dr. Sack explains that the first part is breaking through denial. People are not choosing to use drugs based on “how safe the drugs are” and notes that we are in an overdose epidemic now.