Developed by Professor Ola Dale and his team at NTNU, Ventizolve needed a design that could perform in the chaos of a life-or-death situation — functional, iconic, and created with dignity. Our role was to translate scientific brilliance into a product that people could trust, carry without stigma, and use instinctively in an emergency.

Opioid addiction is a complex global crisis. When we began, existing naloxone products were purely clinical in design — compliant with regulations, but indifferent to the end-user’s reality. This meant solutions that could be stigmatising, hard to carry, or confusing in an emergency.

We began with ethnographic research, speaking to people with opioid dependency, frontline workers, academics, and activists. We studied the environments in which overdoses occur, the social realities of those affected, and the barriers to intervention — insights that shaped every design decision, from the product’s form to its identity and instructions.

Ventizolve has redefined the naloxone market. Its human-centred design has influenced a new wave of harm reduction products and strategies worldwide — from pilot programmes for drone-delivered doses, to moves towards over-the-counter availability in multiple countries.

Since its launch, it has been used in tens, if not hundreds of thousands, of life-saving interventions worldwide and continues to expand globally. Carried by both people at risk and those ready to help.

The product has become a symbol of accessible, stigma-free emergency care, proving that design can be both beautiful and lifesaving.

Recognised by Fast Company, The New York Times, Design Week, and Dezeen, Ventizolve was included in Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum’s Design and Healing exhibition in 2021 and is now part of the museum’s permanent collection.

Yet perhaps its most meaningful recognition came from a person with opioid dependency, who told us it made them feel “seen with dignity.”

In the first six months of its release, it was used in over 600 life-saving situations, in Norway alone.

The design solution has received substantial media coverage from FastCo, The New York Times, Design Week, Dezeen, VG, NRK, TV2, and more.

In December 2021 Ventizolve was included in Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum’s exhibition “Design and Healing: Creative Responses to Epidemics”. It now features as part of the Smithsonian’s permanent design collection in New York.

A leading addiction expert from King’s College London described it as “surprising the Levis’ test”. But, the greatest feedback, for us, was from someone with opioid dependency, who told us the product made them feel “seen with dignity”. With the wider patented solutions from this process have now received interest from other pharmaceutical companies in use for other products beyond naloxone.

Ventizolve continues to be launched around the world, carried in the pockets of addicts and responsible citizens. As such, the number of lives saved grows daily.