IL HR0014

Illinois recorded 3,013 opioid overdose deaths in 2021, a 2.3% increase from 2020 and 35.8% increase from 2019, with 89% involving synthetic opioids like fentanyl

Research shows the standard 4 milligram naloxone nasal spray often requires multiple doses to reverse overdoses, with 78% of recipients needing 2 or more doses and EMS multi-dosing increasing 54% over five years

The FDA approved an 8 milligram naloxone nasal spray in April 2021 and a 5 milligram injectable version in October 2021, with 34 states now including the higher-dose spray in their standing orders

The 8 milligram naloxone spray costs $3.75 per milligram compared to $5.93 per milligram for the 4 milligram version, representing a 36.7% cost reduction

Urges the Illinois Department of Human Services to review expanding its naloxone toolkit to include all FDA-approved naloxone versions to combat the opioid epidemic