Overnight Regulation: FDA launches contest to develop lifesaving opioid app

Welcome to Overnight Regulation, your daily rundown of news from the federal agencies, the courts, Capitol Hill and beyond. It’s Monday evening here in Washington and we’re excited that fall TV is back this week. 

Here’s the latest. 

 

THE BIG STORY 

The Obama administration has launched a contest intended to help reduce the number of people who die every year from overdosing on powerful painkillers, known as opioids.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said Monday that it is looking for computer programmers, public health advocates, clinical researchers, entrepreneurs and innovators to develop a mobile phone application that can connect an opioid user experiencing an overdose with a nearby carrier of Naloxone, a prescription drug that acts as an overdose antidote.

{mosads}The winner of the 2016 Naloxone App Competition will receive $40,000.

Though Naloxone is only available in the U.S. with a prescription, FDA said states have taken steps to make it more readily accessible to first responders, community-based organizations, and friends and family of opioid users. 

“With a dramatic increase in the number of opioid overdose deaths in the U.S., there’s a vital need to harness the power of new technologies to quickly and effectively link individuals experiencing an overdose — or a bystander such as a friend or family member — with someone who carries and can administer the life-saving medication,” said FDA Commissioner Robert Califf in a statement.

“Through this competition, we are tapping public health-focused innovators to help bring technological solutions to a real-world problem that is costing the U.S. thousands of lives each year.”

On a call with reporters, Peter Laurie, FDA’s associate commissioner for public health strategy and analysis, said almost as many people die annually from opioid-related overdoses as they do from motor vehicle crashes. In 2014, opioid overdoses claimed 28,000 lives.

The contest is part of President Obama’s Prescription Opioid and Heroin Epidemic Awareness Week. http://bit.ly/2d6yFwx

 

ON TAP FOR TUESDAY 

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will hold a hearing on laboratory testing. http://bit.ly/2cLVGmm

The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on consolidation and competition in the United States seed and agrochemical industry. http://bit.ly/2cimt5n

The House Energy and Commerce Committee will mark up a series of bills Tuesday, including the Synthetic Drug Control Act to list synthetic substances as Schedule I drugs. http://bit.ly/2cMdDkX

 

TOMORROW’S REGS TODAY

The Obama administration will publish 183 new regulations, proposed rules, notices and other administrative actions in Friday’s edition of the Federal Register.

Here’s what is happening:

–The Department of Energy (DOE) will propose new efficiency rules for pool pumps.

The Energy Department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy is proposing new test procedures for dedicated-purpose pool pumps.

The public has 60 days to comment. http://bit.ly/2cDoUGi

–The Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) will propose new protections for Hawaiian hummingbirds.

The agency will propose to list the I’iwi, which is found in Hawaii, as a threatened species. The move stems from a 2010 petition from the Center for Biological Diversity.

The public has 60 days to comment. http://bit.ly/2ckvIqB

–The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says the nation’s vehicle theft rate is slowly declining.

According to NHTTSA preliminary theft data shows 1.1525 cars were stolen for every 1,000 vehicles manufactured in 2014, a decline of less than 1 percent from the previous year.

The public has 60 days to comment. http://bit.ly/2dbx58x

–The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will consider shedding outdated regulations.

The SEC will review its regulations in search of outdated and redundant rules that can be eliminated.

The public has 30 days to comment. http://bit.ly/2cTWhlZ

 

NEWS RIGHT NOW

EPA updates rule on ‘exceptional’ ozone pollution. http://bit.ly/2ckAIM7

Report: Feds issuing $100B in regs in 2016. http://bit.ly/2cikkHb

Chamber presses for debate question on Social Security reform. http://bit.ly/2cZ68ID

Crime flat despite spike in Chicago murder rate. http://bit.ly/2d6pufr

Feds move to protect hummingbirds. http://bit.ly/2cZboMg

Rubio: Let terrorist attack survivors defer student loans. http://bit.ly/2cyDt8M

California governor signs new ‘super pollutant’ bill into law http://bit.ly/2cD1vRO

Mosquitoes, Zika and biotech regulation (Medical Xpress). http://bit.ly/2cO1JmW

 

BY THE NUMBERS 

234: Number of homicides reported in Chicago in 2015.

496: Number of homicides nationwide in 2015.

13.1 percent: Expected increase in national murder rate from 2015 to 2016. 

(Source: The Brennan Center for Justice)

A new report from the Brennan Center for Justice finds that the U.S. crime rate is flat, but that the murder rate increased by 13.1 percent from 2015 to 2016. It attributed the spike in murders to Chicago, where law enforcement has been dealing with a massive crime wave. http://bit.ly/2dbNwSd

 

QUOTE OF THE DAY 

“In the aftermath of the June 12th terrorist attack at Pulse nightclub, my office assisted one young man whose injuries may prevent him from pursuing his career and made it difficult for him to make his student loan payments on time… Unfortunately, existing law does not automatically recognize an extraordinary situation like this, where giving survivors some time to regroup and delay their payments should be commonsense,” — Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).

Rubio wants to allow survivors of terrorist attacks to automatically defer their student loan payments after the mass shooting at an Orlando, Fla., nightclub. http://bit.ly/2cyDt8M

 

We’ll work to stay on top of these and other stories throughout the week, so check The Hill’s Regulation page (http://digital-staging.thehill.com/regulation) early and often for the latest. And send any comments, complaints or regulatory news tips our way, tdevaney@digital-staging.thehill.com or lwheeler@digital-staging.thehill.com. And follow us at @timdevaney and @wheelerlydia.

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