Police ordered to return locally produced naloxone, replace with pricier commercial product

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This article was published 08/09/2017 (2962 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Police Service is facing an unexpected bill of more than $100,000 after being ordered to return its supply of a locally produced opioid-overdose antidote in favour of a more expensive commercial product.

Chief Danny Smyth told the police board Friday that the entire 1,300-unit supply of naloxone provided to the WPS in December 2016 is being returned to Tache Pharmacy after a ruling by the College of Pharmacists of Manitoba.

“We’ve been directed to return the product that’s been distributed to us,” Smyth told reporters following the board meeting.

The provincial government had covered the initial $30,000 cost of the original 1,300-unit supply of naloxone, which had been made by Winnipeg’s Tache Pharmacy.

Smyth said the WPS has been ordered to buy a replacement product from a commercial pharmaceutical supplier, with the bill ranging from $104,000 to $130,000 — an amount not included in the 2017 budget.

Pharmacy told it was producing too much

Greg Harochaw, general manager of Tache Pharmacy, said the firm had originally been given approval by the College of Pharmacists of Manitoba to produce the naloxone for the WPS and other local police agencies in the province, but that decision was reversed over the summer.

Harochaw said the college decided the pharmacy was producing too much, on the scale of a manufacturer, and ordered it to stop.

Harochaw said the decision is puzzling because the college regulations do not specify what amount of naloxone is too much.

“There is no defined number but the college is saying they feel the number we’re making is too large,” Harochaw said, adding the pharmacy has decided not to challenge the college’s decision.

The ruling affects not only the WPS but also about another 200 naloxone nasal spray units provided by the province to police services in Brandon and Winkler and the Dakota Ojibway Police Service.

Cost per unit to quadruple

A spokeswoman for the College of Pharmacists of Manitoba said Tache was allowed to produce its own naloxone for the WPS and other local police agencies because there wasn’t a commercial nasal spray available at the time. However, the spokeswoman said a commercial product is now available and Tache was ordered to stop making its own.

“Taché Pharmacy was permitted to fill this gap by producing its own nasal spray for sale to the Winnipeg Police Service and other polices services in the province until a Health Canada approved version became available,” said Susan Lessard-Friesen, college registrar, in an email statement to the Free Press.

“Since then, a Health Canada approved naloxone nasal spray became available. The College has therefore determined that given the availability of a Health Canada approved naloxone nasal spray, Taché Pharmacy must discontinue production of naloxone nasal spray as a compounded product.”

Lessard-Friesen said Tache Pharmacy can apply to Health Canada to be recognized as a manufacturer.

“From a public protection perspective, Manitobans, like all other Canadians, have the right to expect that when they are in need of this life-saving drug, emergency responders and law enforcement will be able to administer a naloxone nasal spray to them that has been manufactured and tested in accordance with Health Canada’s high standards for efficacy, quality, and safety,” Lessard-Friesen said.

Harochaw said that while Tache Pharmacy has no plans to be recognized as a manufacturer of naloxone at this time, he believes the naloxone nasal spray made by his pharmacy is superior to the commercial product provincial police services will now have to purchase.

Smyth said the WPS had negotiated to pay Tache Pharmacy about $20 per unit for its naloxone, adding the cost of the commercial product will range between $80 to $100 per unit.

A WPS spokesman said the initial 1,300-unit supply was expected to last to the end of 2018. The replacement supply is expected shortly.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca