Preventing fatal overdoses: a systematic review of the effectiveness of take-home naloxone

Can naloxone provided in the community help reduce the thousands of drug induced deaths recorded in Europe every year?

This is the question explored by the EU drugs agency (EMCDDA) in a new paper released today: Preventing fatal overdoses: a systematic review of the effectiveness of take-home naloxone.

Naloxone — a pharmaceutical drug used to reverse the effects of opioid overdose — has been used in emergency medicine (e.g. ambulance crews, hospital emergency-room teams) for over 40 years. As many overdoses occur in the presence of drug users’ family members or peers, however, empowering bystanders to act effectively, before emergency services arrive at the scene, can save lives.

Naloxone is listed by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an ‘essential medicine’ and the report shows how evidence supports take-home naloxone (THN) provision as part of a comprehensive harm reduction response.

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