Julia Jones
Director of Critical Care & CNS, Accord Healthcare
Addiction to drugs and alcohol is a big problem in the UK. More innovative treatments are needed from pharma firms, alongside life-saving training and awareness initiatives.
You might not think of addiction to drugs or alcohol as a medical condition. But it absolutely is, insists Julia Jones — and a particularly devastating one at that.
Addiction in the UK causes devastation
“I can’t think of another medical condition that strips you of everything,” says Jones, Director of Critical Care and CNS (Central Nervous System) at pharmaceutical company Accord Healthcare. “That’s what addiction does. You can lose your job, home, relationships, mental health and physical health. If you take too much of a particular substance, it can lead to the ultimate loss: the loss of your life.”
Addiction statistics in the UK make grim reading. According to estimates from the European Centre for Drugs and Drug Monitoring (EMCDDA), around 140,000 people received treatment for opioid disorder (although the number of those with opioid addiction issues is thought to be much larger). EMCDDA also reveals that around 6,000 drug users die of overdose each year across the whole of the EU, and around three-quarters of those deaths involve opioids. In 2023, GOV.UK reported that more than 4,000 people die from an avoidable drug overdose every year, and the majority of these deaths involve opioids.
They might have an opportunity to save a
person’s life, but only if they know that
a medicine exists — and how to use it.
Committed to working in the addiction space
Are these worrying statistics part of the reason why Accord Healthcare is now committed to working in the addiction space? “We wanted to move into the area of addiction because we thought it needed more focus and more attention,” says Jones. “The drugs available to treat addiction haven’t changed much over the years, but we felt we could add value by offering alternative formulations that might improve them in some way.”
The company has had a number of successes, too, such as bringing to market opioid use disorder medicines that reduce cravings and withdrawal symptoms. “This deters a person’s compulsion to seek out illicit drugs,” explains Jones. “It helps to keep on a treatment programme under the regular supervision of a doctor, and therefore much less likely to die from an opioid overdose.”
Delivering knowledge that can save lives
To get life-saving solutions to patients as quickly as possible, the company is dedicated to working in partnership with local health boards, the NHS and even other pharma firms. “For example, a company might develop a product but lack the ability, expertise or reach to commercialise it,” says Jones. “We can use our knowledge and infrastructure to help bring it to market.”
Battling addiction isn’t just dependent on new and improved medicines. It also needs training and awareness on a massive scale so that a person’s family members and friends — and the wider public, for that matter — know how to act in an emergency, such as an overdose situation.
“It’s why we provide various training and awareness initiatives, distributing instructional aids and other supportive tools wherever possible,” says Jones. “We also partner with the police, prisons, universities, academic institutions and other organisations likely to be first responders. Because they might have an opportunity to save a person’s life, but only if they know that a medicine exists — and how to use it.
