Home  >  Health Check  >  Opioid overdose antidote made available in US
Health Check
Opioid overdose antidote made available in US
Health Check
Sep 6, 2023

With deaths from opioid overdoses rocketing to more than 100,000 people each year, the US has moved to make the drug Naloxone available to buy in pharmacies for the first time there this week. The nasal spray treatment can revive people who have overdosed within minutes.

Claudia Hammond is joined by Dr Ann Robinson to hear how the drug works, and what lessons the US can learn from how other countries around the world are using it.

We also hear from the first polar research team to try to tackle taboos over menstruation by training the next generation of Arctic and Antarctic scientists how to deal with having your period during an expedition.

Claudia and Ann look at new research suggesting the morning after pill becomes more effective when taken with anti-inflammatory drugs.

And we find out whether opposites do truly attract, as a new study on romantic relationships uncovers what happy couples do and don’t have in common.

Image Credit: Brittany Murray/MediaNews Group/Long Beach Press-Telegram via Getty Images

Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Dan Welsh

More Episodes



Apr 22, 2026
Making surgery safer for infants

We learn about a new injectable microgel to help reduce bleeding in infants who require surgical care. In a mice model, it reduced bleeding by at least 50%. Ashley Brown, Professor of Biomedical Engineering at North Carolina State University and UNC Chapel Hill tells presenter Claudia Hammond more about this new material her team has designed.

Joined by Professor of Global Health and Epidemiology at Boston University in the US, Dr Matthew Fox, Claudia hears about a mystery illness that is being investigated by health officials in Burundi, which has caused five deaths and sickened thirty-five people. So far lab analysis of the illness - which causes fever, vomiting, and diarrhoea - has been negative for Ebola and Marburg viruses, Rift Valley fever, and others.

We hear about influential analysis from Cochrane which has concluded that "breakthrough" Alzheimer's drugs are unlikely to benefit patients. Researchers said the impact was "well below" what was needed to make a difference to dementia patients' lives. However, their report has also provoked a vicious backlash from equally esteemed scientists who label it as fundamentally flawed.

We’re joined by health journalist Katie Silver in Mexico, who brings us the news that the President, Claudia Sheinbaum, has announced the details of a plan to introduce universal healthcare – no mean feat in country of 130 million people.

And we hear about an experiment that was done by academics to see if they could trick AI chatbots into believing in an entirely fake disease.

Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Jonathan Blackwell


26min 28sec

Opioid overdose antidote made available in US

--:--
--:--