Opioid Maker to Pay for Overdose Antidote Development

THURSDAY, Sept. 6, 2018 -- A $3.4 million grant to help a non-profit company develop a less expensive opioid overdose antidote was announced by Purdue Pharma, which makes the opioid painkiller OxyContin.

The grant is being given to Pittsburgh-based Harm Reduction Therapeutics, which is trying to develop a low-cost nasal spray with the opioid overdose antidote naloxone.

Purdue is among a number of prescription opioid makers blamed for causing the United States' opioid addiction and overdose crisis, the Associated Press reported.

Purdue and other drug companies are being sued by local governments that claim the companies used deceptive marketing that encouraged doctors to overprescribe opioids, the AP reported. As of last week, opioid makers faced more than 1,000 lawsuits being overseen by a federal judge.