Gibson Gives’ TEMPO Program Wants to Save Lives From Opioid Overdoses with Prevention Education

The following article is the Gibson Gives program.

Last year, Gibson Gives--the purpose-driven charitable arm of the iconic American instrument brand Gibson—launched TEMPO-Training and Empowering Musicians to Prevent Overdose. The TEMPO program works with non-profits to provide both life-saving training for using the drug Naloxone (Kloxxado® Narcan), which is used to prevent opioid overdoses, and offer a support network for recovery from opioid addiction. Through TEMPO, Gibson Gives is training musicians, crew members, music industry professionals, and non-profits on how to properly administer Kloxxado® giving them the ability to reverse opioid overdoses and save lives.

Gibson Gives’ TEMPO program is proud to announce a generous commitment of 16,000 doses of Kloxxado® (Naloxone HCl) Nasal Spray 8 mg from Hikma. The three-year commitment titled TEMPO, Powered by Kloxxado® is valued at $1 Million, marking the largest single donation to Gibson Gives and its TEMPO program, so far.

Kloxxado® by Hikma contains a higher dose of 8 mg of Naloxone per spray--double the dose per spray of Narcan® (Naloxone HCl) Nasal Spray 4 mg. With increasingly stronger amounts of illicitly manufactured fentanyl being discovered in substances including cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines, and counterfeit pills (CDC, Drug Overdose – Other Drugs), 78% of opioid overdose reversals now involve at least 2 doses of Naloxone (DEA, One Pill Can Kill).

“We are beyond grateful to Hikma for their recent donation of Kloxxado® to TEMPO,” says Erica Krusen, Senior Director of Cultural Influence at Gibson Brands. “Opiate overdoses persist as a major public health problem, contributing to over 100,000 U.S. deaths just last year (CDC, Drug Overdose Deaths in the U.S. Top 100,000 annually). These deaths are preventable through the timely administration of Naloxone--a safe, effective, and easy to administer medication that reverses opioid overdoses and helps save lives.”

Gibson Gives’ TEMPO program is now 12 non-profit members strong including MusiCares, The Scars Foundation, The Clinic (Roadie Advocacy Group), Sandgaard Foundation, Sims Foundation, Harbor Path, Musicians For Overdose Prevention, Life By Music, Passenger Recovery, National Harm Reduction, and Solace For Hope. The TEMPO program believes it is important not only to save a life, but also to aid in recovery from opioid addiction. Select TEMPO partners will provide counseling for those suffering from opioid addiction, and to family members who have lost a loved one to overdose. Each non-profit member of the TEMPO Network is recognized as an official TEMPO program training center.

MusiCares--which provides a safety net of critical health and welfare services to the music community in Mental Health and Addiction Recovery Services, Health Services, and Human Services--will be the first TEMPO partner to launch in the artist area during this weekend’s Pilgrimage Music & Culture Festival in Franklin, TN. Pilgrimage Festival will mark TEMPO’s first distribution of and training sessions for Kloxxado® via MusiCares whose mission is to serve musicians and the music industry.

Gibson Gives and TEMPO will be producing training videos and distribute Kloxxado® to University Music Departments across the United States, and produce artist-driven Public Service Announcements. The timing of this life-saving overdose reversal drug comes as musicians are touring again, and in-person concerts and festivals are at an all-time high after post-COVID shutdowns. Lethal overdoses from opioid and fentanyl are on the rise globally, and have reached an all-time high in the U.S.; with public warnings being issued regularly about fentanyl-laced products, awareness has never been more critical.