John Holaday – Chairman and CEO DisposeRx

Opioids: Hidden Dangers, New Hope

John Holaday on how a simple change in behavior at home can break the cycle of opioid addiction and death that begins in the home medicine cabinet. “Our passion is to both, educate and legislate. On the education side, letting people understand that they've got to change behaviors. They've got to look in their medicine cabinet and get rid of these leftover opioids. We have a product that does that called, DisposeRx. . . it changes behavior. Our solution is a site of use solution. That is, at home. You don't get in your car, you just take your drugs out of the medicine cabinet. Add . . a small amount of powder about the same amount as you'd find in a pack of sugar . . . add the water . . .shake it up in that prescription vial and within a minute or two, the drugs are dissolving and . . . become immersed in a gel from which they cannot be easily diverted or abused. And in which, they biodegrade overtime, so that they won't pollute landfills.” John Holaday, Chairman and CEO, DisposeRx in studio with host Brian Wilson John HoladayAn ounce of prevention is certainly worth a pound of cure. Brian Wilson:A scientist, an author, an inventor, an entrepreneur, and a veteran. John Holaday has seen and done a great many things. But, it's in his role as Chairman and CEO of DisposeRx where he's making perhaps his greatest impact. What follows is a conversation with a man who studied the opioid crisis from every angle, and one who is determined to change how our society views disposing of its medications. Brian Wilson: How did we get into an epidemic? Where did it all start? John Holaday: Well, there are a number of routes towards this epidemic. The one that probably is the most important is when it was decided, in about the late '90s, to put more opioids in the marketplace, under the flawed premise that opioids like OxyContin are not addictive, and that one should have a way of treating chronic pain with a drug that's less addictive. So they put OxyContin in the market. And that was from Purdue Pharma. And then as it became more widely abused, or misused, people would turn to other drugs, like heroin, because they couldn't afford it. It was a dollar a milligram. An 80 milligram OxyContin tablet, $80.00 on the street. Average problem with people who were taking up to $500.00 worth of drugs a day, couldn't afford it. Brian Wilson: Right. John Holaday: Where do they turn? They turn to heroin. For $20.00, you can get a pop of heroin; far less expensive and a better high. Brian Wilson: Alright so, are there anything inherently wrong with the idea of opioids? I mean, can they serve a legitimate purpose? John Holaday: You know, there's no better way to achieve pain relief for moderate to severe pain, having had some surgeries in the last few years, if I had not had opioids I wouldn't have been able to go through the recovery, and the physical therapy that was necessary. What about cancer pain? The people with chronic diseases like cancer, need to have pain therapy. And it's not so important they've become addicted to them. They've got to have pain relief. But there are no better drugs for the relief of moderate to severe pain than the category of opioids. Brian Wilson: The problem comes after you've completed the therapy. Now you've got an addiction that you need to be ... Treat the addiction and that you have sometimes, many leftover drugs sitting around. John Holaday: The average duration of a leftover drug in the medicine cabinet is in excess of three years. Brian Wilson: Wow. John Holaday: Although, drugs might have labels on them saying, "Please destroy after XY years." Those drugs are really good for a far longer period of time. But what we've got to do is to change those habits. We have a disruptive approach to getting rid of the medicines before they cause harm. Because 70% of the opioids addictions, overdoses and death, begin with leftover drugs in the medicine cabinet.