The described device has the potential to prevent the 70,000-100,00 accidental narcotic overdose deaths that occur in the United States every year. A specially designed belt worn around the waist incorporates two threaded grommets that are located six to eight inches apart, on each side of the belt’s buckle. A sensing module incorporating an accelerometer is fastened to one of the grommets and an injection module is fastened to the other grommet. When respiration takes place the diaphram moves downwards into the abdomen, causing the chest to rise if there is no upper airway obstruction and causing the abdominal wall to move even if there is some or complete upper airway obstruction. If the accelerometer does not detect any abdominal wall motion (no respiratory effort) for a programmed time interval ( for example, 90 seconds) this module triggers the injection module to immediately insert a hypodermic needle through the skin into the abdominal subcutaneous tissue and rapidly inject one cc. of high potency(10mg/cc) naloxone. This amount of subcutaneous naloxone will restore effective respiration within one to two minutes.

A person who is about to ingest or inject a drug that is potentially contaminated with fentanyl or another even more potent opioid would be able to safely use the drug while wearing this belt. The belt ideally would be tightened around the user’s waist directly contacting the abdominal skin, although it can also be effective when worn over thin clothing.

The sensing module contains a miniature accelerometer, coin batteries, and a microcontroller. When the programmed period of apnea is exceeded, the sensing module activates the injection module by means of an electric current traveling through wires incorporated into the belt.

The injection module consists of a modified one cc syringe filled with high potency naloxone. The syringe is attached to a one inch long hypodermic needle that is capped with a pierceable plastic or rubber membrane. This syringe is modified so that it can be screwed through the threaded grommet until the needle cap is pressed up against the abdomen when the belt is tightened. The syringe is further modified so that an electric signal from the sensing module will trigger the injection module to thrust the hypodermic needle through the pierceable cap and into the subcutaneous tissue, followed by the rapid injection of naloxone.

The injection module can alternatively be spring loaded in a manner similar to the Owen Mumford Autoject 2 device or it can be activated by a solenoid or a miniature linear actuator.

There is nothing on the market like this belt. The market potential is huge considering the number of deaths it could prevent. All of the components that are needed are already available but a significant amount of mechanical and electrical engineering will be necessary to produce and test a prototype and then produce a reasonably priced product.