Latest news with #opioidoverdose
Yahoo
15-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Navamedic ASA: Closing of the transaction to acquire the business of dne pharma
OSLO, Norway, July 15, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Reference is made to the stock exchange announcement published by Navamedic ASA ("Navamedic" or the "Company", OSE ticker: "NAVA") on 23 June 2025, regarding Navamedic entering into an asset purchase agreement for the acquisition of the business of dne pharma AS for a total consideration of up to NOK 225 million, whereby NOK 185 million is payable at closing, and the remaining NOK 40 million is payable in two tranches subject to achievement of certain agreed sales volumes for the acquired products (the "Transaction"). Navamedic is pleased to announce that the Transaction has today been successfully completed. The Acquisition encompasses dne pharma's business, including product portfolio, key employees and all essential contracts of the business, intellectual property, licenses, and distribution agreements. The product portfolio includes prominent products such as Ventizolve® (intranasal naloxone spray for opioid overdose reversal), Levopidon® (levomethadone), and Metadon Dne (methadone) for opioid substitution therapy. The acquired business will be integrated into Navamedic's existing commercial platform, enabling rapid market access and geographic expansion across the Nordics and selected European markets. "This acquisition represents a significant step in our strategic expansion into the rapidly growing field of addiction treatment and is well aligned with our long-term growth ambitions. Thanks to the strong collaboration among all parties involved, the transaction was completed in a smooth and efficient manner. We are pleased that the General Meeting unanimously approved the Rights Issue yesterday, and we are sincerely grateful for the continued support of Kistefos and the other underwriters," said Kathrine Gamborg Andreassen, CEO of Navamedic. The Acquisition is financed through a combination of new debt in the amount of NOK 110 million from Nordea Bank Abp, filial i Norge ("Nordea") and a rights issue approved at an extraordinary general meeting of Navamedic on 14 July (the "Rights Issue"). Navamedic has been assisted by DNB Carnegie a part of DNB Bank ASA ("DNB Carnegie") and Advokatfirmaet Thommessen ("Thommessen") in connection with the Acquisition, and Navamedic has been granted a bridge loan from Nordea enabling completion of the Acquisition before completion of the Rights Issue. Navamedic has retained DNB Carnegie, and Nordea Corporate Finance, a part of Nordea Bank Abp, filial i Norge as managers and Thommessen as legal advisors for the Rights Issue. "We are very pleased closing this transaction with Navamedic and we are confident that the Navamedic team will continue to grow the opioid substitution business developed by dne pharma, in particular the Ventizolve® products," says Geir Ove Engeset, CEO of dne pharma as. For further information, please contact: Lars Hjarrand, CFO, Mobile: +47 917 62 842 E-mail: orKathrine Gamborg Andreassen, CEO, Mobile: +47 951 78 880 E-mail: kathrine@ About Navamedic Navamedic ASA is a Nordic pharmaceutical company dedicated to enhancing people's quality of life by being a reliable supplier of high-quality prescription, consumer health, and hospital products to hospitals and pharmacies. Our growing product portfolio has been carefully selected to meet current public health concerns, such as obesity, Parkinson's disease, and gastro-related ailments, to empower people to live healthier and more fulfilling lives. What sets us apart is our deep-rooted commitment to understanding the needs and requirements of the countries where we are present. Our local insight and competence enable us to understand the specific needs of each country where we operate and ultimately to gain market access. This makes us a preferred partner for international companies expanding their footprint across the Nordics and Benelux regions, through either in-licensing or out-licensing. Navamedic has been listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange since 2006 (ticker: NAVA) and is headquartered in Oslo, Norway. For more information, please visit About dne pharma/Pharma Production Prior to closing of the Transaction, dne pharma was a Norwegian developer and distributor of addiction and pain therapies, including opioid substitution treatments and emergency overdose medications. dne pharma's wholly owned subsidiary, Pharma Production AS, will continue to manufacture and supply the product portfolio recently acquired by Navamedic, as well as concentrate on contract manufacturing and development services, including analytical services, supporting the long-term need for national pharmaceutical production capacity. This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to Section 5-12 the Norwegian Securities Trading Act. This information was brought to you by Cision View original content: Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Washington Post
10-06-2025
- Health
- Washington Post
Music festivals have become more open to harm reduction initiatives. How far will it go?
NEW YORK — The sounds of muffled percussion and audience cheers reverberate throughout the grounds. Brand activations, makeshift bars and restaurant pop-ups control traffic as a sea of bodies move from set to set. Sandwiched between is a row of nonprofits across familiar causes: hunger, housing and voter registration. It's a common music festival scene, until closer inspection. There is a new table, This Must Be the Place. The Ohio-based nonprofit offers attendees free opioid overdose reversal treatment and training on how to use it, an education acquired in under two minutes. Just a few years ago, their inclusion might've been unthinkable amid murky regulations and a lack of public awareness surrounding harm reduction. Advocates say drugs are commonly consumed at music festivals, making them ideal locations for harm reduction activities. While more music festivals are allowing such activities, activists are pushing for expanded efforts as some festivals remain cautious. Founded by William Perry and Ingela Travers-Hayward in 2022, This Must Be The Place has since given away an estimated $4.5 million in naloxone, the opioid overdose reversal medication, at festivals and smaller community events. In the very beginning, without a 'proof of concept,' as Perry describes it, they had trouble partnering with festivals. Eventually, a few festivals in the Midwest agreed to let them table, which 'got us in the door with Bonnaroo in 2022,' says Perry, referring to the major U.S. festival operated by C3 Presents, one of the largest concert promoters on the planet. Now they have a presence at 35 major U.S. festivals — including Lollapalooza, Governors Ball and Besame Mucho — where they collaborate directly with C3 and their security personnel. The organization's growth overlaps with advancing federal regulations. According to Daliah Heller, vice president of overdose prevention initiatives at the global public health nonprofit Vital Strategies, naloxone distribution used to be determined by state regulations until 2023, when the Food and Drug Administration approved the first over-the-counter nasal spray. 'We no longer need the prescription laws to be amended to allow for the distribution of naloxone,' she says. 'Now it's like buying aspirin — it's over the counter.' Last year, This Must Be the Place gave away 46,146 units of Narcan — a brand name for naloxone — through their national festival outreach. Emmett Beliveau, chief operating officer of C3 Presents, says working with This Must Be the Place was C3's first time implementing public-facing harm reduction strategies, in addition to the promoter's existing medical programs. Bringing the organization into C3's festivals was 'not in response to anything that has happened at one of our festivals,' he says, but rather because of the 'number of fatalities happening in our communities.' Some activists believe attendees are most responsive to receiving harm reduction education from peers instead of authority figures. And so, for the last three years, a nonprofit dedicated to combating accidental drug overdoses among young adults, Team Awareness Combating Overdose, has distributed fentanyl test strips and Narcan at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival . Former TACO CEO Kameran Mody says that music festivals are ideal locations for distribution and education because 'music and the use of drugs are synonymous with each other.' TACO distributes through what Mody describes as 'guerrilla-style marketing.' They enlist volunteers, train them on how to use naloxone, and ship Narcan and test strips to them to bring into the festival. They do not involve the festival organizers. Representatives for Coachella did not respond to The Associated Press' requests for comment. In 2023, a TACO volunteer administered Narcan to an unresponsive Coachella attendee exhibiting signs of an overdose. The organization says the attendee regained consciousness. 'That was one of our biggest successes,' Mody says. In 2019, at Bonnaroo, a 27-year-old man was found dead at his campsite — right after harm reduction activists had picketed the Tennessee festival because it didn't allow drug testing. The toxicology report found ecstasy and fentanyl in his system. At the time, under state law, test strips were criminalized and classified as drug paraphernalia. That's changed: In 2022, Tennessee decriminalized fentanyl test strips. By the end of 2023, 44 other states and D.C. had done the same. But in some states, drug paraphernalia laws are written in a way that isn't completely transparent — there are test strips that are not fentanyl-specific, Heller points out — and criminalization and social stigmas endure. Some have found workarounds. 'Even in the states where the legalities were a bit unclear, instead of just coming in and hoping things worked out, we would reach out to the health department, and say 'We run this project, how do feel about it?'' says Perry. 'We would end up with letters from the highest-ranking health official, either in the county or in the state, saying 'We approve of this.' That circumvented any roadblocks.' Some festivals, though, might be hesitant to use test strips because 'it's tough for them to admit that drugs are being used,' Mody says. Some festivals have even banned naloxone. While This Must Be The Place distributes fentanyl test strips at some Ohio events, C3 doesn't distribute test strips at its events and does not plan to. Beliveau doesn't believe fentanyl test strips are effective and expressed concern they could encourage drug use. Test strips, which can detect fentanyl in pills, powders or injectables, are recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a low-cost means of helping prevent drug overdoses. At a three-day electronic music festival in Mexico City earlier this year, a booth provided free, anonymous drug testing. The initiative, known as 'Checa tu Sustancia' (Check Your Substance), was spearheaded by the Instituto RIA, a Mexico-based drug policy research and advocacy organization. When unexpected substances are detected, users received detailed information on what they are, their risks, potential interactions with other substances and dosage adjustments, empowering them to make informed choices. Perry says they are aware of smaller festivals in the United States conducting drug checking, but 'they do it in a very underground and whisper network way' to avoid criminalization. What Perry says his organization would like to see at music festivals in the future would be harm reduction areas — sections where attendees who have taken drugs can be monitored, not to 'get them into trouble' but to ensure safety. Heller says there are a number of groups working to destigmatize drugs, promote decriminalization, and promote drug checking. 'We already have drug checking happening in cities,' she says. 'It makes perfect sense to expand the settings where you would offer that to include music festivals. It's the same rationale. ... The issue is this idea of liability. You'd have to create a law, essentially, that would protect the festival from liability.'
Associated Press
10-06-2025
- Health
- Associated Press
Music festivals have become more open to harm reduction initiatives. How far will it go?
NEW YORK (AP) — The sounds of muffled percussion and audience cheers reverberate throughout the grounds. Brand activations, makeshift bars and restaurant pop-ups control traffic as a sea of bodies move from set to set. Sandwiched between is a row of nonprofits across familiar causes: hunger, housing and voter registration. It's a common music festival scene, until closer inspection. There is a new table, This Must Be the Place. The Ohio-based nonprofit offers attendees free opioid overdose reversal treatment and training on how to use it, an education acquired in under two minutes. Just a few years ago, their inclusion might've been unthinkable amid murky regulations and a lack of public awareness surrounding harm reduction. Advocates say drugs are commonly consumed at music festivals, making them ideal locations for harm reduction activities. While more music festivals are allowing such activities, activists are pushing for expanded efforts as some festivals remain cautious. Harm reduction varies at festivals across the country Founded by William Perry and Ingela Travers-Hayward in 2022, This Must Be The Place has since given away an estimated $4.5 million in naloxone, the opioid overdose reversal medication, at festivals and smaller community events. In the very beginning, without a 'proof of concept,' as Perry describes it, they had trouble partnering with festivals. Eventually, a few festivals in the Midwest agreed to let them table, which 'got us in the door with Bonnaroo in 2022,' says Perry, referring to the major U.S. festival operated by C3 Presents, one of the largest concert promoters on the planet. Now they have a presence at 35 major U.S. festivals — including Lollapalooza, Governors Ball and Besame Mucho — where they collaborate directly with C3 and their security personnel. The organization's growth overlaps with advancing federal regulations. According to Daliah Heller, vice president of overdose prevention initiatives at the global public health nonprofit Vital Strategies, naloxone distribution used to be determined by state regulations until 2023, when the Food and Drug Administration approved the first over-the-counter nasal spray. 'We no longer need the prescription laws to be amended to allow for the distribution of naloxone,' she says. 'Now it's like buying aspirin — it's over the counter.' Last year, This Must Be the Place gave away 46,146 units of Narcan — a brand name for naloxone — through their national festival outreach. Emmett Beliveau, chief operating officer of C3 Presents, says working with This Must Be the Place was C3's first time implementing public-facing harm reduction strategies, in addition to the promoter's existing medical programs. Bringing the organization into C3's festivals was 'not in response to anything that has happened at one of our festivals,' he says, but rather because of the 'number of fatalities happening in our communities.' Some attendees have taken matters into their own hands Some activists believe attendees are most responsive to receiving harm reduction education from peers instead of authority figures. And so, for the last three years, a nonprofit dedicated to combating accidental drug overdoses among young adults, Team Awareness Combating Overdose, has distributed fentanyl test strips and Narcan at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Former TACO CEO Kameran Mody says that music festivals are ideal locations for distribution and education because 'music and the use of drugs are synonymous with each other.' TACO distributes through what Mody describes as 'guerrilla-style marketing.' They enlist volunteers, train them on how to use naloxone, and ship Narcan and test strips to them to bring into the festival. They do not involve the festival organizers. Representatives for Coachella did not respond to The Associated Press' requests for comment. In 2023, a TACO volunteer administered Narcan to an unresponsive Coachella attendee exhibiting signs of an overdose. The organization says the attendee regained consciousness. 'That was one of our biggest successes,' Mody says. Local laws and the risk of criminalization hinder initiatives In 2019, at Bonnaroo, a 27-year-old man was found dead at his campsite — right after harm reduction activists had picketed the Tennessee festival because it didn't allow drug testing. The toxicology report found ecstasy and fentanyl in his system. At the time, under state law, test strips were criminalized and classified as drug paraphernalia. That's changed: In 2022, Tennessee decriminalized fentanyl test strips. By the end of 2023, 44 other states and D.C. had done the same. But in some states, drug paraphernalia laws are written in a way that isn't completely transparent — there are test strips that are not fentanyl-specific, Heller points out — and criminalization and social stigmas endure. Some have found workarounds. 'Even in the states where the legalities were a bit unclear, instead of just coming in and hoping things worked out, we would reach out to the health department, and say 'We run this project, how do feel about it?'' says Perry. 'We would end up with letters from the highest-ranking health official, either in the county or in the state, saying 'We approve of this.' That circumvented any roadblocks.' Some festivals, though, might be hesitant to use test strips because 'it's tough for them to admit that drugs are being used,' Mody says. Some festivals have even banned naloxone. While This Must Be The Place distributes fentanyl test strips at some Ohio events, C3 doesn't distribute test strips at its events and does not plan to. Beliveau doesn't believe fentanyl test strips are effective and expressed concern they could encourage drug use. Test strips, which can detect fentanyl in pills, powders or injectables, are recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a low-cost means of helping prevent drug overdoses. Harm reduction shows promise outside the US At a three-day electronic music festival in Mexico City earlier this year, a booth provided free, anonymous drug testing. The initiative, known as 'Checa tu Sustancia' (Check Your Substance), was spearheaded by the Instituto RIA, a Mexico-based drug policy research and advocacy organization. When unexpected substances are detected, users received detailed information on what they are, their risks, potential interactions with other substances and dosage adjustments, empowering them to make informed choices. Perry says they are aware of smaller festivals in the United States conducting drug checking, but 'they do it in a very underground and whisper network way' to avoid criminalization. What Perry says his organization would like to see at music festivals in the future would be harm reduction areas — sections where attendees who have taken drugs can be monitored, not to 'get them into trouble' but to ensure safety. Heller says there are a number of groups working to destigmatize drugs, promote decriminalization, and promote drug checking. 'We already have drug checking happening in cities,' she says. 'It makes perfect sense to expand the settings where you would offer that to include music festivals. It's the same rationale. ... The issue is this idea of liability. You'd have to create a law, essentially, that would protect the festival from liability.'
The Independent
10-06-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Music festivals have become more open to harm reduction initiatives. How far will it go?
The sounds of muffled percussion and audience cheers reverberate throughout the grounds. Brand activations, makeshift bars and restaurant pop-ups control traffic as a sea of bodies move from set to set. Sandwiched between is a row of nonprofits across familiar causes: hunger, housing and voter registration. It's a common music festival scene, until closer inspection. There is a new table, This Must Be the Place. The Ohio-based nonprofit offers attendees free opioid overdose reversal treatment and training on how to use it, an education acquired in under two minutes. Just a few years ago, their inclusion might've been unthinkable amid murky regulations and a lack of public awareness surrounding harm reduction. Advocates say drugs are commonly consumed at music festivals, making them ideal locations for harm reduction activities. While more music festivals are allowing such activities, activists are pushing for expanded efforts as some festivals remain cautious. Harm reduction varies at festivals across the country Founded by William Perry and Ingela Travers-Hayward in 2022, This Must Be The Place has since given away an estimated $4.5 million in naloxone, the opioid overdose reversal medication, at festivals and smaller community events. In the very beginning, without a 'proof of concept,' as Perry describes it, they had trouble partnering with festivals. Eventually, a few festivals in the Midwest agreed to let them table, which 'got us in the door with Bonnaroo in 2022,' says Perry, referring to the major U.S. festival operated by C3 Presents, one of the largest concert promoters on the planet. Now they have a presence at 35 major U.S. festivals — including Lollapalooza, Governors Ball and Besame Mucho — where they collaborate directly with C3 and their security personnel. The organization's growth overlaps with advancing federal regulations. According to Daliah Heller, vice president of overdose prevention initiatives at the global public health nonprofit Vital Strategies, naloxone distribution used to be determined by state regulations until 2023, when the Food and Drug Administration approved the first over-the-counter nasal spray. 'We no longer need the prescription laws to be amended to allow for the distribution of naloxone,' she says. 'Now it's like buying aspirin — it's over the counter.' Last year, This Must Be the Place gave away 46,146 units of Narcan — a brand name for naloxone — through their national festival outreach. Emmett Beliveau, chief operating officer of C3 Presents, says working with This Must Be the Place was C3's first time implementing public-facing harm reduction strategies, in addition to the promoter's existing medical programs. Bringing the organization into C3's festivals was 'not in response to anything that has happened at one of our festivals,' he says, but rather because of the 'number of fatalities happening in our communities.' Some attendees have taken matters into their own hands Some activists believe attendees are most responsive to receiving harm reduction education from peers instead of authority figures. And so, for the last three years, a nonprofit dedicated to combating accidental drug overdoses among young adults, Team Awareness Combating Overdose, has distributed fentanyl test strips and Narcan at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Former TACO CEO Kameran Mody says that music festivals are ideal locations for distribution and education because 'music and the use of drugs are synonymous with each other.' TACO distributes through what Mody describes as 'guerrilla-style marketing.' They enlist volunteers, train them on how to use naloxone, and ship Narcan and test strips to them to bring into the festival. They do not involve the festival organizers. Representatives for Coachella did not respond to The Associated Press' requests for comment. In 2023, a TACO volunteer administered Narcan to an unresponsive Coachella attendee exhibiting signs of an overdose. The organization says the attendee regained consciousness. 'That was one of our biggest successes,' Mody says. Local laws and the risk of criminalization hinder initiatives In 2019, at Bonnaroo, a 27-year-old man was found dead at his campsite — right after harm reduction activists had picketed the Tennessee festival because it didn't allow drug testing. The toxicology report found ecstasy and fentanyl in his system. At the time, under state law, test strips were criminalized and classified as drug paraphernalia. That's changed: In 2022, Tennessee decriminalized fentanyl test strips. By the end of 2023, 44 other states and D.C. had done the same. But in some states, drug paraphernalia laws are written in a way that isn't completely transparent — there are test strips that are not fentanyl-specific, Heller points out — and criminalization and social stigmas endure. Some have found workarounds. 'Even in the states where the legalities were a bit unclear, instead of just coming in and hoping things worked out, we would reach out to the health department, and say 'We run this project, how do feel about it?'' says Perry. 'We would end up with letters from the highest-ranking health official, either in the county or in the state, saying 'We approve of this.' That circumvented any roadblocks.' Some festivals, though, might be hesitant to use test strips because 'it's tough for them to admit that drugs are being used,' Mody says. Some festivals have even banned naloxone. While This Must Be The Place distributes fentanyl test strips at some Ohio events, C3 doesn't distribute test strips at its events and does not plan to. Beliveau doesn't believe fentanyl test strips are effective and expressed concern they could encourage drug use. Test strips, which can detect fentanyl in pills, powders or injectables, are recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a low-cost means of helping prevent drug overdoses. Harm reduction shows promise outside the US At a three-day electronic music festival in Mexico City earlier this year, a booth provided free, anonymous drug testing. The initiative, known as 'Checa tu Sustancia' (Check Your Substance), was spearheaded by the Instituto RIA, a Mexico-based drug policy research and advocacy organization. When unexpected substances are detected, users received detailed information on what they are, their risks, potential interactions with other substances and dosage adjustments, empowering them to make informed choices. Perry says they are aware of smaller festivals in the United States conducting drug checking, but 'they do it in a very underground and whisper network way' to avoid criminalization. What Perry says his organization would like to see at music festivals in the future would be harm reduction areas — sections where attendees who have taken drugs can be monitored, not to 'get them into trouble' but to ensure safety. Heller says there are a number of groups working to destigmatize drugs, promote decriminalization, and promote drug checking. 'We already have drug checking happening in cities,' she says. 'It makes perfect sense to expand the settings where you would offer that to include music festivals. It's the same rationale. ... The issue is this idea of liability. You'd have to create a law, essentially, that would protect the festival from liability.'
CBS News
07-06-2025
- Health
- CBS News
Michigan opioid overdose deaths expected to drop for third straight year
Opioid overdose deaths in Michigan are projected to drop in 2024, marking the third consecutive year of decline, according to the state's attorney general's office. Data from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services shows a 34% reduction in overdose deaths between 2023 and 2024, which is around 1,000 fewer deaths, state officials said. The death rate from 2022 to 2023 decreased by 5.7% from 2,998 to 2,826. The state credits the three-year decline to investments in prevention, treatment, recovery and harm-reduction efforts, funded in part by national opioid settlements. "Since 2019, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has helped secure more than $1.6 billion in settlements for Michigan governments from companies such as McKinsey & Co, Distributors Cardinal Health, McKesson, Inc., and AmerisourceBergen, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Teva Pharmaceutical, Allergan Pharmaceutical, CVS, Walmart and Walgreens," the attorney general's office said in a news release on Thursday. In August 2024, the state projected it would see more than $1 billion from opioid settlement payments over the next 20 years or so. The attorney's office says the majority of settlement funds are distributed equally between local governments and Michigan's Opioid Healing and Recovery Fund, which was created by lawmakers in 2022 to hold funds from opioid settlements. Michigan's Opioids Task Force has distributed more than 1.3 million naloxone kits as a result of the funding, with nearly 34,000 of those kits used to reverse overdoses, the state says. In April, local organizations in Livingston County were developing proposals on how to spend around $9 million in opioid settlement funds. Learn more about the organizations working on plans in the video player above. Note: The above video first aired on April 7, 2025.
