SOUTHERN PINES – Purging home medicine cabinets of unused prescription painkillers is one way to help stem the opioid crisis, and a new startup company in Southern Pines believes it has the ideal product for doing that. Retail giant Walmart agrees.

On Wednesday, Walmart announced its agreement with DisposeRX to distribute its disposal product free of charge.

“In an effort to help curb abuse and misuse, Walmart is launching a first-of-its kind opioid disposal solution – available at no cost – in all company pharmacies,” Walmart announced. “DisposeRx provides a virtually effortless way for patients to destroy leftover opioids and a way to do so without ever leaving home.” (Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.)

DisposeRX says its product targets the opioid epidemic in the home.

“Seventy percent of heroin addictions start in the medicine cabinet,” says William Simpson, president of DisposeRx.

A half bottle of unused or expired prescription pain pills sitting in a medicine cabinet can tempt a friend, relative or stranger who’s looking to get high, and addiction can take hold fast. When pilfered pills run out, desperate addicts often turn to cheap heroin on the street to satisfy their cravings.

“Our goal is to break that chain and remove that illicit access to medication,” Simpson says.

William Simpson

DisposeRx has invented a product by the same name that can reduce the surplus of prescription opioids that are available for illegal recreational use. It allows consumers to neutralize unused or expired opioid medicines quickly, cheaply and safely in their homes.

“We’re the only company that’s doing a site-of-use solution,” Simpson says. “You’re looking at a new paradigm.”

A CHEAP AND EASY WAY TO DISARM DRUGS

The product is a small packet of powder that sells for $1.50 per unit. When added to a bottle of prescription pills along with water, and then shaken, the powder forms into a gel. Polymers in the gel bond to the opioid medicine, locking it up to prevent its illicit use.

“There’s no way to extract the medication from the viscous gel once the gel’s been activated,” Simpson says. “By sequestering it physically and chemically and by making the medication inert, we feel that that should be the gold standard.”

In addition to opioids, DisposeRx will disarm a wide variety of medicines including amphetamines, sleeping pills, anti-anxiety drugs and chemotherapeutics in any form – powders, pills, tablets, capsules, liquids or patches.

A sample of DisposeRx product

After use, it’s safe to toss DisposeRx into a garbage can. The product poses no contamination threat to landfills or water supplies because it eventually biodegrades into harmless methane and carbon dioxide.

Simpson says DisposeRx is better than consumers’ habits of dumping unused opioids or other drugs directly into a garbage can, sink or toilet.

“The last thing we want to do is add more toxicity to our environment,” he says. “Our water systems are not designed to pull these kinds of things out of the sewer.”

DisposeRx is more convenient than “take-back” programs that require consumers to drop off or mail unused prescription opioids to a designated place, Simpson says. It’s also more effective than traditional household practices of mixing opioids with used coffee grounds, sawdust or kitty litter in an attempt to make them unpalatable for illicit or accidental use.

“These are not unpalatable for someone who’s suffering through addiction,” he says.

SEEKING EARLY ADOPTERS

Simpson’s company is initially targeting hospital systems and hospice organizations as early adopters of DisposeRx to help them dispose of their unused medications. Ultimately, the company wants pharmacies to dispense packets of the product in tandem with drug prescriptions.

That will require educating stakeholders in the drug supply chain about the need for solutions and the advantages of DisposeRx.

“The consumer is the end user, but the pharmacies and prescribers are the key to getting it into the consumer’s hand,” Simpson says. “We’re really looking at this as a medical education issue. Our goal has been to reinforce safe consumer disposal habits.”

The company is working with policymakers in Kentucky to develop legislation requiring better solutions for the disposal of opioid medicines. A bill has been drafted for consideration in 2018.

The eight-employee company is encouraging policymakers in North Carolina to consider similar legislation.

Simpson likens such policy changes to previous legislation requiring seatbelt use and child-resistant drug packaging. Those laws have prevented thousands of deaths since their enactment.

“What my hope is, is that the next generation, when they get their medications, they also have a safe and easy way to dispose of the medications so that the only medicine in their cabinet is what is on therapy,” Simpson says. “We need all stakeholders to play their part in that.”