Water Cooler

Narcan may be no match for 2 new fentanyl strains

ATLANTA — Two new strains of fentanyl are so deadly that they may be immune to naloxone, also known as Narcan, the drug used to save those who have overdosed, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Tuesday in a news release.

Acrylfentanyl and tetrahydrofuran fentanyl were not identified by the GBI until March, when the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office submitted the drugs as part of forensic evidence. A month later, officials investigated four overdoses that killed two people in the county. At the time, authorities thought the overdoses were caused by a bad batch of deadly drugs such as heroin or fentanyl.

Officials have not said if the two new strains are connected to the overdoses.

“It is not known how the human body will react to both drugs since they are not intended for human or veterinary use,” GBI spokeswoman Nelly Miles said. “The drugs can be absorbed through the skin and are considered highly dangerous.”

One of the drugs – acrylfentanyl – was banned in Georgia in April, she said, and has been on the GBI watch list for months.

"It's a very potent drug and there's a high potential it has already killed people in Georgia," Miles told WSB-TV. "There are multiple reports that (the drugs are) showing resistance to naloxone."

The new strains come three weeks after four people were killed and dozens suffered from overdoses in a two-day span in Middle Georgia. The chief medical officer at Navicent Health in Macon told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that a new drug in the area was being sold as Percocet. It's possible the drug could be homemade.

INLINE