LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan.\u00a012, 2026)\u00a0\u2014 On some winter mornings, Daniel\u00a0Wermeling, Pharm.D., nurses his coffee and occasionally revisits the improbable idea that once kept him awake for more than a decade \u2014 that a medicine older than many of his students could be reborn in an easy-to-use form. When he recounts the story, he ticks through the pharmacology and the regulatory hurdles as if they were items on a grocery list. But at the center of\u00a0the plot\u00a0is a very\u00a0unacademic\u00a0image: a person kneeling beside a loved one, with seconds to spare and no time to find a vein.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, when\u00a0heroin and\u00a0fentanyl began infiltrating the illicit drug market and overdose rates climbed,\u00a0Wermeling, then a faculty member at the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy, saw a critical gap. People were dying not because\u00a0the overdose reversal drug\u00a0naloxone\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0work, but because it was out of reach.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you have someone collapsing in front of you, you do not have time to assemble a syringe,\u201d\u00a0Wermeling\u00a0said. \u201cYou need something anyone can use.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He\u00a0decided\u00a0naloxone needed to be needle-free, stable, easy\u00a0to\u00a0use and available fast. The result was\u00a0AntiOp Inc., the startup he founded in 2009 to build a nasal spray version of naloxone. For 10\u00a0years, he and his collaborators tested formulations, layered device\u00a0technologies\u00a0and pushed through regulatory barriers. They did what larger companies had not yet done.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
In 2015,\u00a0the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first prescription intranasal naloxone. In 2023, the first over-the-counter version was released.\u00a0Wermeling\u2019s\u00a0fingerprints were\u00a0evident\u00a0throughout the\u00a0entire\u00a0development process that made it possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Today, naloxone nasal spray is stocked next to epinephrine and insulin pens. It sits in glove compartments, dorm\u00a0rooms\u00a0and kitchen drawers.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNaloxone used to be something an EMT carried,\u201d\u00a0Wermeling\u00a0said. \u201cNow it\u2019s something you might find in your mother\u2019s purse.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The data bears this out. Americans filled more than 2.1 million naloxone prescriptions in 2023, not\u00a0including\u00a0over-the-counter purchases. Community programs have documented tens of thousands of overdose reversals.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The impact\u00a0in\u00a0Kentucky is personal. In 2023,\u00a01,984\u00a0Kentuckians died from drug overdoses. That number is lower than the\u00a0COVID-19\u00a0pandemic peak, but still one of the highest per capita in the country. Public health researchers estimate that many\u00a0thousands\u00a0more survived because naloxone was available.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Community-based naloxone programs documented more than 26,500 overdose reversals by 2014, and now, naloxone distribution is consistently associated with as much as\u00a046% reductions in overdose deaths in areas where it is widely available. In a 2025 systematic review, survival rates after community-administered naloxone exceeded 95% across all settings studied.\u00a0Behind every percentage point are neighbors,\u00a0co-workers\u00a0and\u00a0friends.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Wermeling\u2019s\u00a0career reads like a roadmap of translational research \u2014 pharmacy school at\u00a0the top-ranked\u00a0UK\u00a0College of Pharmacy, residency and fellowship at UK HealthCare, decades on the\u00a0UK\u00a0College of Pharmacy faculty, founder of a startup focused on intranasal therapeutics, a stack of investigational new drug applications, patents and publications, leadership roles in drug development and clinical trials administration. Between classrooms,\u00a0labs\u00a0and boardrooms, he moved like someone who saw urgency everywhere.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For\u00a0Wermeling, it was simply a matter of fidelity to the problem.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you lose\u00a090 seconds\u00a0because you\u2019re fiddling with a syringe, that\u2019s potentially a life you don\u2019t get back,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That intensity fueled work beyond the laboratory.\u00a0Wermeling\u00a0logged countless hours teaching community groups to recognize overdose symptoms and use the naloxone nasal spray. He lobbied for pharmacist-led standing orders in Kentucky, paving the way for other states to follow suit. He fielded phone calls from county police chiefs who wanted to outfit patrol cars with naloxone. He stood in front of anxious parents and walked them through the tilt-head, insert-tip\u00a0and press instructions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For decades,\u00a0Wermeling\u00a0helped shape a generation of pharmacists. He built foundational courses in drug development regulation, led curriculum committees, mentored residents and\u00a0fellows\u00a0and integrated student learning into real-world projects. His teaching philosophy mirrored his research approach: start with the real-world problem\u00a0and\u00a0then work backwards\u00a0to find the solution.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What\u00a0emerged\u00a0is a portrait of persistence as\u00a0professional\u00a0virtue. A\u00a0researcher\u00a0whose\u00a0most lasting contribution occurred because he saw something that had\u00a0not\u00a0yet happened and insisted that it could.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Naloxone is a reprieve. A\u00a0second chance.\u00a0And in the opioid crisis, second chances are precious.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kentucky pharmacists now lead\u00a0harm\u00a0reduction and public health efforts across the state. First-year pharmacy students learn about naloxone as part of their standard skill set.\u00a0<\/p>\n
All of it traces back to the basic impulse that guided\u00a0Wermeling\u2019s\u00a0work. Start\u00a0at the end and work\u00a0your way back. What does someone with\u00a0only\u00a0seconds to spare need? A stable, single-use, needle-free product requiring no mixing or measurement. And what does a nation\u00a0facing\u00a0a drug overdose epidemic need? Providers\u00a0empowered\u00a0to deliver it without barriers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Redefining the profession\u00a0<\/p>\n
On Jan. 12, National Pharmacist Day presents an opportunity for the public to broaden its understanding of who\u00a0pharmacists are and what they can do. In many ways,\u00a0Wermeling\u2019s\u00a0story stretches that frame. He is not just the learned intermediary at the\u00a0pharmacy\u00a0counter; he is the investigator, teacher, entrepreneur,\u00a0regulator\u00a0and clinician who took a public health gap and translated it into usable rescue.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Pharmacy practice is problem-solving on behalf of patients. Through his pursuit of a solution,\u00a0Wermeling\u00a0looked at the nation\u2019s deadliest modern epidemic and asked the most\u00a0pharmacological of\u00a0questions: what formulation makes help arrive faster? Then he spent a decade ensuring the answer existed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Maybe it\u00a0was not\u00a0your friend, your\u00a0brother\u00a0or your co-worker, but it was\u00a0someone\u2019s. Someone who collapsed in a bathroom, their lips\u00a0turning\u00a0blue. Someone whose girlfriend heard a thud on the floor. Someone whose dad sprinted down the hallway, shouting their name.\u00a0Someone who was found in the backseat of a car. Someone who was so close to\u00a0death\u00a0that their story was already being written.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That is who naloxone brought back. People whose lives could have ended in seconds but\u00a0did not\u00a0because a pharmacist put rescue in reach. Because\u00a0one man, stubbornly persistent, believed you\u00a0should not\u00a0need medical training to save someone you love.\u00a0<\/p>\n
You may never know the names of the people whose\u00a0lives were saved because of that work, but somewhere tonight, a mother is setting a place at the table for a child who almost\u00a0did not\u00a0make it home.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And if you ever wonder what pharmacists can do \u2014 start there. A pharmacist can save your child. Your best friend. Your spouse.\u00a0They\u00a0can save a life that matters to you.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Daniel\u00a0Wermeling,\u00a0Pharm.D., is\u00a0professor\u00a0emeritus at the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy. National Pharmacist Day is\u00a0observed Jan. 12 annually.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The University of Kentucky has\u00a0Narcan\/naloxone\u00a0opioid rescue kits\u00a0in 60 locations across campus.\u00a0The kits are in an easy-to-access box with simple instructions on\u00a0how to\u00a0administer the drug. A map of Naloxone kit locations is online<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan.\u00a012, 2026)\u00a0\u2014 On some winter mornings, Daniel\u00a0Wermeling, Pharm.D., nurses his coffee and occasionally revisits the improbable…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246261,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[103,61,60,371],"class_list":{"0":"post-246260","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-medication"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246260\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}