Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel touts better buy on anti-overdose drug

MADISON - Some Wisconsin buyers will get discounts on a life-saving drug overdose treatment that is being more widely purchased by public agencies but is also getting increasingly expensive.

Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel made the announcement Thursday along with an executive of Adapt Pharma, a maker of the anti-overdose drug naloxone, also known by the brand name Narcan. Later in Milwaukee, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and Rep. John Nygren (R-Marinette) outlined policy proposals from a statewide opioid task force, including giving legal immunity to school nurses and staff when using Narcan.

State lawmakers have been expanding access to Narcan to give more public agencies in Wisconsin the ability to use the drug to treat overdose victims of the state's heroin addiction epidemic. But as prices of the drug have been increased by some companies, it has raised concerns by Schimel and other public officials that it could become too expensive to use widely.

The one-year deal would allow local police and emergency units, local governments and public and private schools to buy two 4-milligram doses of the drug in bulk for $75.

RELATED: Gov. Scott Walker takes actions on heroin addiction

The Adapt product's dosage is more powerful than the 2 milligrams found in some other products and will work better against synthetic opiates, Schimel and Madison Police Chief Mike Koval said at a statehouse news conference. It's delivered in the form of a nasal injection that is easier for people to administer with minimal training, they said.

Last month, Gov. Scott Walker called for a special legislative session to fight heroin addiction and ordered state agencies to ramp up their response to a drug that kills hundreds in Wisconsin each year.

Kleefisch and Nygren detailed some of those proposals Thursday afternoon at "On the Issues" with Mike Gousha, a distinguished fellow in law and public policy at Marquette University.

Many of the proposals, such as putting more money into treatment alternatives and diversion programs, take a "trauma-informed" approach, asking what happened to a person to identify the underlying issues, Kleefisch said.

Near the end of the session, Gousha asked how the two respond to criticism from some that the state did not put such resources into opioid addiction until it touched out-state communities.

"We're a representative government," Nygren said. "I'm from northeast Wisconsin. Milwaukee is not my world. I don't have firsthand experience of the issues that face Milwaukee."

Legislators, he said, only know "what we know" from their own experiences.

"For people that might say, 'Why weren't you doing something then,' I would challenge them that leadership needs to come from your local community like it's coming from mine," said Nygren, whose daughter has struggled with heroin addiction.

Jason Stein reported for this story in Madison and Ashley Luthern reported from Milwaukee.