The dead help the living: Researchers and NGO in an unusual collaboration

It did not come out of the blue when, in 2024, the Danish Medicines Agency decided that a nasal spray for opioid overdoses would no longer require a prescription.

A long series of awareness efforts and coffee meetings with politicians had all aimed to make the life-saving antidote Ventizolve available over the counter. 

One of the driving forces was the small Copenhagen-based NGO Antidote Denmark, which found an unusual partner in the Department of Forensic Medicine at Aarhus University.

Information from Police Reports

The collaboration began in Kødbyen in Vesterbro.

Forensic chemist Jakob Ross Jornil had travelled from Aarhus to a conference to talk about drug-user deaths from a forensic perspective. But something was missing in the many presentations.

“It occurred to me that everyone was talking about the circumstances of overdose deaths, but no one had the crucial numbers - like how many people die on the street from an overdose, and how many die while someone is with them. But we had that information, because we read excerpts from police reports,” he explains.

This marked the beginning of a collaboration between Antidote Denmark, which works directly with drug users, and the Department of Forensic Medicine, which examines the consequences when it is already too late—two worlds that rarely meet.

“It was great that we could use our data to prevent rather than merely document,” says clinical associate professor and chief physician Charlotte Uggerhøj Andersen.

The collaboration resulted in a research article in which the research team—especially Charlotte Uggerhøj and colleague Peter Andreas Andersen—reviewed overdose deaths in Western Denmark.

The results were clear: many had a wide range of substances in their bloodstream, which can increase the risk of fatal poisoning. Although most deaths occurred when the user was alone, overdoses also happened in the presence of others - especially among younger people. 

And in several cases, quick access to an antidote could have saved lives, if those present had known what the person had taken and could recognise the symptoms of an overdose.

The conclusions were translated directly into action. Among other things, the main findings of the study were used almost verbatim in a new treatment guide for youth substance-abuse services.

Antidote Denmark also changed its training materials:

“We discovered that people often have four to eight different substances in their blood during an overdose. That’s why you should always administer the nasal spray,” says the NGO’s director, Michael Lodberg Olsen.

“That was new knowledge for us working directly in the field.”

Antidote Denmark and the researchers also collaborated on two Aarhus-based conferences on opioid overdoses - one at Dokk1 and one at Frontløberne in Jægergårdsgade.
Here, the researchers faced a challenging communication task, as they were addressing a broad audience of both treatment professionals and drug users.

“As researchers, we are very cautious about not saying too much or saying something that can be misunderstood. It was difficult - but also meaningful to convey facts about opioid deaths to an audience that included people who may themselves be at risk of an overdose,” says Charlotte Uggerhøj.

When the proposal to remove the prescription requirement for Ventizolve nasal spray reached the political agenda, Antidote Denmark was able to point to the study as documentation. It made a difference, says Michael Lodberg Olsen.

“When multiple voices say the same thing, you get heard in a different way,” he notes.

“Me meeting 150 drug users in a year who say that this medication should be available over the counter doesn’t carry as much weight as a scientific article. The article shows that the younger you are, the more likely you are to be with others when you overdose. And then people can save each other.”

Antidote Denmark had not previously collaborated with university researchers, but Michael Lodberg Olsen is happy to do so again:

“The main conclusion is that we must dare to disturb each other and listen to each other. That’s why we have research - to create evidence that makes the world better. And we do that best together.”

Contact

Clinical Associate Professor and Chief Physician Charlotte Uggerhøj Andersen
Aarhus University, Department of Forensic Medicine & Aarhus University Hospital, Clinical Pharmacology
Phone: +45 60 12 84 30
Email: cua@forens.au.dk

Forensic Chemist, PhD Jakob Ross Jornil
Aarhus University, Department of Forensic Medicine
Phone: 86 16 83 57
Email: jjor@forens.au.dk

Forensic Chemist Tore Forsingdal Hardlei
Aarhus University, Department of Forensic Medicine
Phone: +45 87 16 83 49
Email: tfha@forens.au.dk

Physician, PhD Student Peter Andreas Andersen
Aarhus University, Department of Clinical Medicine – Danish Pain Research Center
Phone: +45 60 20 26 87
Email: pean@clin.au.dk

Director, Social Entrepreneur and Founder Michael Lodberg Olsen
Antidote Denmark
Phone: 25 85 24 85
Email: mlo@antidote.dk

This article has been machine-translated.