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In a notice published online Tuesday, the agency said that it “strongly encourages” naloxone makers to contact the FDA “as early as possible” to initiate a discussion about a potential switch from prescription to over the counter. (Lovelace Jr., 11/16)

The U.S. government’s top addiction researcher is calling for broad deregulation of methadone, a key drug used to treat opioid use disorder. American doctors should “absolutely” be allowed to prescribe methadone directly to patients, Nora Volkow, the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, said Wednesday. (Facher, 11/16)

Have U.S. drug overdose deaths stopped rising? Preliminary government data suggests they may have, but many experts are urging caution, noting that past plateaus didn’t last. U.S. overdose death rates began steadily climbing in the 1990s driven by opioid painkillers, followed by waves of deaths led by other opioids like heroin and — most recently — illicit fentanyl. Last year, more than 107,000 Americans died of drug overdoses — the highest tally in U.S. history. (Stobbe, 11/16)

A team at the University of Houston that developed the new vaccine say it could affect fentanyl’s impact on the brain, eliminating the euphoric feelings it produces. They published their findings in the journal Pharmaceutics. (Mikhail, 11/16)

Walmart’s plan would have to be approved by 43 states by Dec. 15, and local governments could sign on by March 31, 2023. Each state’s allocation depends partly on how many local governments agree. The retail giant’s announcement follows similar proposals on Nov. 2 from the two largest U.S. pharmacy chains, CVS Health and Walgreen Co., which each said they would pay about $5 billion. (Magdaleno and Ramm, 11/16)