How it All Started
John and Michael envisioned a consulting project to help existing pharma manufacturers take their naloxone products OTC. Despite naloxone having been FDA approved in 1971 and off patent since 1985, it still was expensive and required a prescription. None of the pharma manufacturers planned to take their naloxone products OTC despite rising opioid overdose rates and an urgent public need. High profit margins and outdated systems were prioritized over saving lives.
Michael and John realized change would only come if they led the charge. It wasn’t just about public health; it was an ethical imperative. And so, Harm Reduction Therapeutics, Inc. (HRT) – the first and only non-profit pharma company focused on opioid overdose – was born with a mission to make naloxone accessible, affordable, and available to all.
Today, RiVive® is an FDA-approved OTC intranasal naloxone product available across the U.S. Although our journey was long, we don’t see it as hard. Hard is finding someone you love dead from an overdose. Hard is staying alive when you don’t know what’s in the drugs you’re using. Hard is trying to stop using drugs and suffering through withdrawal. Hard is watching as people die while for-profit pharma companies refuse to make naloxone as widely available at the lowest cost possible; and at least HRT and RiVive have helped to make that a little less hard.
What We’re Trying to Achieve
We are taking profit out of the equation by selling an intranasal naloxone product to help save lives that would have otherwise been lost to opioid overdose. We want to achieve this by making as much RiVive as possible at an affordable cost. This would be the answer to the countless pleas from harm reduction advocates asking for a low-cost OTC naloxone option.We also hope that for-profit manufacturers of naloxone products would follow suit and lower their prices.
HRT and its directors, employees, and consultants do not personally profit from the sales of RiVive.
The Journey Ahead
As a non-profit 501(c)(3) pharmaceutical company, you can help us achieve our mission of putting easy-to-use life-saving OTC naloxone into the hands of anyone who needs it.
RiVive is available at cost or less, with an initial selling price set at $36 per twin pack.
HRT and its directors, employees, and consultants do not personally profit from the sales of RiVive. This also includes our unpaid volunteer Board of Directors and minimal staff who receive no additional compensation as sales are made.
Funding partners are required to sustain operations, including manufacturing. Funders can direct their financial support to further lowering the price of RiVive, making more of it available free of charge to specific U.S. non-profit harm reduction organizations, and/or by helping to increase manufacturing capacity so that more lives can be saved.
MEET THE TEAM
Board of Directors
1.Robert Gougelet, MD:
https://www.doximity.com/pub/robert-gougelet-md
2.Michael Hufford, PhD:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-hufford-4339596/
3.Jim Kelly:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-kelly-5113781/
4. Elliott Millenson:
https://prabook.com/web/elliott_j.millenson/3467969
5. John Pinney:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-pinney-78aa996/
6.George Quesnelle:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/george-quesnelle-99583870/
Harm Reduction Therapeutics
Harm Reduction Therapeutics is a 501(c)(3) non-profit pharmaceutical company founded to save lives by making FDA-approved, low dose intranasal naloxone available over-the-counter free of charge, or at the lowest possible cost.
HRT is focused on supplying RiVive to communities who need it most and will make 10% of projected initial annual product production available free of charge through Remedy Alliance/For The People:
https://remedyallianceftp.org/
Harm Reduction Therapeutics is a 501(c)(3) non-profit pharmaceutical company focused on increasing access to free of charge or low-cost naloxone. Its work has been funded by private donors and by contributions from Purdue Pharma approved (since 2020) by the bankruptcy court administering Purdue Pharma’s chapter 11 proceedings.
For more information on donating to support our work, please contact us at financialsupport@harmreductiontherapeutics.org.