6/27/2019
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`Overdose Deaths L kely to Fall for First Time Since 1990 - WSJ
`
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`https://www.wsj.com/articles/overdose-deaths-likely-to-fall-for-first- ime-since-1990-11561541406
`
`U.S.Overdose Deaths Likely to Fall for First Time
`Since 1990
`
`Health officials and scientists warn U.S. is far from defeating drug epidemic
`
`The overdose-reversal drug naloxone, often known by the brand-name Narcan, is credited with helping to decrease overdose
`fatalities in places like Rhode Island, Ohio and Pennsylvania. PHOTO: MATT ROURKEASSOCIATED PRESS
`
`By Jon Kamp
`June 26, 2019 530 am ET
`
`For the first time in decades, drug-overdose deaths in the U.S. are on the precipice of declining.
`
`Authorities are still counting fatalities around the U.S. from 2018, but provisional data from the
`Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are pointing lower. Those data predict there were
`nearly 69,100 drug deaths in the 12-month period ending last November, down from almost
`72,300 predicted deaths for 12 months ending November 2017.
`
`If the trend holds through December, annual drug deaths will fall for the first time since 1990,
`when overdoses killed about 8,400 people. December’s data will likely be available next month.
`
`“I think we’re probably looking at a decline,” said Robert Anderson, chief of the Mortality
`Statistics branch at the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. “We shouldn’t say oh, we’ve
`won and we’ve defeated the drug-overdose epidemic.”
`
`There is little cause for celebration, health officials and epidemiologists say. The death rate
`remains swollen by powerful synthetic opioids like fentanyl, and Mr. Anderson warned a
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`Opiant Exhibit 2164
`Nalox-1 Pharmaceuticals, LLC v. Opiant Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
`IPR2019-00694
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`Overdose Deaths L kely to Fall for First Time Since 1990 - WSJ
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`new, deadly analog could arrive anytime. The rise of methamphetamines and related deaths
`remains a worrisome trend.
`
`Health authorities are eager for any hint of progress. Overdoses have killed roughly 870,000
`people during this nearly three-decade rise, with particularly heavy tolls in the last several
`years, CDC data show.
`
`“I’m ready to say that the opioid crisis is in early remission, yet at high risk of relapse,” said Jim
`Hall, an epidemiologist at Nova Southeastern University in Florida.
`
`One driving factor has been broadened access to the overdose-reversal drug naloxone, often
`known by the brand-name Narcan, according to authorities in places like Rhode Island, Ohio
`and Pennsylvania. This can entail putting more doses directly in the hands of at-risk drug users.
`
`When asked why fatalities in the Pittsburgh area fell 41% to 432 last year—the lowest level since
`2015—Allegheny County Chief Medical Examiner Karl Williams said: “In a word, Narcan.”
`
`Pennsylvania’s drug deaths are still being counted, but there was likely a statewide decline last
`year, a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration office in Philadelphia said. The
`DEA tabulates overdoses for the state.
`
`Authorities there and beyond also credit efforts to get overdose victims from emergency rooms
`on a path to treatment. This can entail connecting them with peer-recovery coaches, handing
`them free naloxone kits and following up with them after they head home.
`
`Another possible factor is that some of the most vulnerable people have already been killed,
`said Magdalena Cerda, director of the new Center for Opioid Epidemiology and Policy at New
`York University Langone Health, adding that more studies are needed in this area. Also, hard-
`hit states may be regressing toward more average levels after years of death rates inflated by
`opioids, she said.
`
`“It’s likely a combination of all those things together,” she said, noting that the rates of
`overdose are still many times higher now than they were in the peak of the crack-cocaine crisis
`decades ago.
`
`SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS
`
`What should authorities do to lower the rate of drug-overdose deaths? Join the conversation
`below.
`
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`Opiant Exhibit 2164
`Nalox-1 Pharmaceuticals, LLC v. Opiant Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
`IPR2019-00694
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`Overdose Deaths L kely to Fall for First Time Since 1990 - WSJ
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`Preliminary data show Ohio, long an epicenter for the fentanyl crisis, saw overdose fatalities
`fall about 24% to 3,694 last year, according to the state health department. The fact that a
`highly-potent variant called carfentanil hit the state hard from mid-2016 to mid-2017 played a
`role by driving the death rate higher in those years, local coroners have said.
`
`Mark Hurst, medical director at Ohio’s health department, said state-level interventions like
`increasing the number of physicians who prescribe drug-treatment medications are bearing
`fruit.
`
`Rhode Island, which is often cited as an example for aggressive steps to stop fatal overdoses,
`has seen a slight reduction in deaths for two straight years. Along with broad naloxone access
`and peer-recovery specialists for overdose victims, Rhode Island has a drug-treatment program
`available to all state prisoners.
`
`James McDonald, medical director at
`the state health department, said
`there is still a glaring need to find and
`address the root causes of addiction.
`
`“There’s no one around here
`celebrating anything,” he said.
`
`RELATED
`
`• •
`
`Methamphetamine Is Flooding Into U.S., Drug Officials Say (March 17)
`
`Deaths Level Off—and Even Decline—in Some Opioid Hotspots (Jan. 2)
`
`Opioids continued to drive the death rate higher in some states, including Louisiana and
`Maryland, local authorities confirmed. In the latter state, preliminary data show unintentional
`intoxication deaths rose 6% to 2,420 in 2018.
`
`Maryland health officials have been studying and emulating places with sliding fatality rates,
`including Rhode Island, said Fran Phillips, Maryland’s deputy public health secretary. Recent
`steps include copying the peer-specialist model for people who survived overdoses, flooding
`the at-risk population with naloxone and providing test strips, which drug users can use to
`detect hidden fentanyl, she said.
`
`Maryland officials recently said intoxication deaths had fallen 15% in the first quarter this year
`from a year ago.
`
`Write to Jon Kamp at jon.kamp@wsj.com
`
`Copyright © 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved
`
`This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers visit
`https://www.djreprints.com.
`
`https://www.wsj.com/articles/overdose-deaths-likely-to-fall-for-first-time-since-1990-11561541406
`
`3/3
`
`Opiant Exhibit 2164
`Nalox-1 Pharmaceuticals, LLC v. Opiant Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
`IPR2019-00694
`Page 3
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