Kinney Drugs says it was first to offer OTC Narcan

GOUVERNEUR — At 9 a.m. on Aug. 31, a Kinney Drugs store in Clayton became the first pharmacy in the country to sell Narcan over the counter (OTC).

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the Narcan 4 milligram naloxone hydrochloride nasal spray for over-the-counter, non-prescription use, meaning it can be sold directly to consumers. The medication reverses the effects of an opioid overdose.

“We wanted to be first to the market,” Judy Cowden, Kinney’s senior director of marketing and advertising, says about Narcan. “We wanted that because it makes a statement, a statement that we’re part of the solution.”

According to the FDA, the U.S. had more than 101,750 reported fatal overdoses in the 12 months ending October 2022.

Overdoses happen in a variety of circumstances, Cowden says. Many times, overdoses happen at home when others are around. Not all overdoses are due to illicit use, she points out. They can happen when patients forget they already took their medication and accidentally take another dose. An overdose can also happen when someone else in the home, like a child, and comes across the medication, like an opioid pain patch that isn’t disposed of properly.

Regardless of how an overdose happens, the ability to now have Narcan on hand is a game changer, Cowden says.

“What we’re hoping for is to change the conversation so that people look at having Narcan in your first-aid kit like having an EpiPen,” she says. Kinney wants to help reduce the stigma that might be associated with having Narcan or associating having it with admitting a weakness or a problem, she says.

“If you take prescription opioids, you should have this in your medicine cabinet,” Cowden says.

Prescription opioids include oxycodone (brand names OxyContin and Percocet), hydrocodone (brand name Vicodin), codeine, morphine, fentanyl, methadone, hydromorphone, and buprenorphine, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Narcan is a nasal spray that blocks the opioid receptors in the body to combat an overdose, she says. “You don’t need special training to do it.” The medication has no impact on a person if there are no opioids in their system, she added.

“You can’t hurt them if they aren’t overdosing,” Cowden says. “You can only help them if they are.”

Sold in a two-dose package for $44.99, the medication is available on the shelves at Kinney. It isn’t behind the pharmacy counter, nor it is kept in a locked case. Sold in hot pink packaging, the box does include a security tag that must be deactivated at the register. This was a deliberate decision on Kinney’s part, Cowden says, to make the medication as accessible as possible. It’s also available via Instacart where the third-party shopping service is offered.

From the first sale taking place the moment it became available on Aug. 31, to continuing daily sales, the need for the product is apparent, Cowden says.

“We have sales every single day, and we’re encouraged by that,” she says.

Employee-owned Kinney Drugs, which is headquartered in Gouverneur, operates 96 stores in New York and Vermont. It is part of KPH Healthcare Services, which also includes Health Direct Institutional Pharmacy Services, which serves long-term care and alternative care needs; ProAct, Inc., a pharmacy benefit-management company; and Noble Health Services, a specialty pharmacy dispensing medications for complex and chronic diseases. The company also includes Aristacare, an infusion-therapy pharmacy; HomeLife, which provides specialized nursing support for in-home infusion services; and Kinney Homecare, a durable medical-equipment company.