SEN WARNER SEEKS OXYCONTIN HEARING

He asks Sen. Kennedy to convene inquiry about abuse of drug Sen. Warner
seeks OxyContin hearing The Senate's Health Committee oversees the Food and
Drug Administration, which approved OxyContin in 1995.

By LAURENCE HAMMACK The Roanoke Times

U.S. Sen. John Warner called Tuesday for a Senate committee to hold
hearings on what he called "the emerging crisis of OxyContin abuse."

A member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Warner is
asking the panel to conduct an inquiry at a time when the prescription
painkiller is coming under increased scrutiny from federal agencies such as
the Food and Drug Administration and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Warner, R-Va., wrote in a letter dated Tuesday to the committee's chairman,
Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., that abuse of OxyContin has "spawned a crime
wave in Southwest Virginia and across the border into Eastern Kentucky and
West Virginia."

At least 43 fatal overdoses in Virginia have been linked to the active
ingredient in OxyContin, Warner wrote, and an estimated 120 deaths
nationwide suggest that the problem is spreading.

"The Drug Enforcement Administration reports no other prescription drug
over the last 20 years has been illegally abused by so many people so soon
after it was released," Warner wrote.

It was not clear Tuesday if the committee will hold a hearing. Calls to
Warner's and Kennedy's offices were not immediately returned.

A spokesman for the company that manufactures OxyContin said it would
welcome a chance to participate in a hearing to "clear the air" of what it
considers inaccurate reports about its drug, including the number of fatal
overdoses.

But Robin Hogen, executive director of public affairs at Purdue Pharma,
also said it's likely that Congress will not have time to deal with the issue.

"Senator Kennedy's got a million things on his plate," Hogen said. "I'm
sure he'll be respectful and put this on the pile of requests he probably
gets every day for hearings."

While OxyContin abuse would be a "somewhat narrow topic" for a
congressional hearing, such procedures are not unheard of, according to
Susan Winckler, director of policy and advocacy for the American
Pharmaceutical Association.

"The hearing could be as broad or as narrow as the senators choose to have
it," Winckler said.

The Senate's Health Committee oversees the Food and Drug Administration,
which approved OxyContin in 1995 for treatment of moderate to severe pain
in cases where use of an opium-based narcotic is appropriate for more than
a few days.

"They would have a pretty wide purview," Winckler said - wider, say, than
that of the Judiciary Committee, which has oversight of the Drug
Enforcement Administration. That's appropriate, Winckler said, because the
discussion should cover not just how addicts abuse the drug, but how
legitimate patients benefit when it is used as prescribed.

"We're almost at the point where people who use OxyContin legitimately have
a negative stigma and are ashamed by it, and that's wrong," she said.

Warner's request was the latest blow for Purdue Pharma, which has been
portrayed in lawsuits as a company more interested in touting its $1
billion product than in warning of its addictive side.

Last week, the FDA announced that it was placing the strongest possible
warning on the medication, stressing to doctors and pharmacists that the
pills should be used to treat only the most serious pain.

Hogen of Purdue Pharma said the company would welcome the opportunity to
tell a Senate committee what it has done to limit abuse. Those steps
include distributing free tamper-resistant prescription pads to doctors,
sponsoring medical education programs and researching the possibility of a
pain medication that could not be abused.

Warner's letter details the problems associated with OxyContin - at least
10 armed robberies of pharmacies in Tazewell County, 90 percent of Pulaski
County's thefts and shoplifting cases being linked to the drug, and
countless other crimes committed by people who become addicted to it.
Abusers generally crush the pills into a powder that is snorted or injected
for a heroin like high.

Yet at the same time, Warner noted that the drug has been "hailed as a
miracle pain reliever" that should not be restricted for those who need it.

"The more information we have, the better decisions will be made," Winckler
said. "So if a hearing could help shed light on the dual-sided issue of
stopping diversion without limiting legitimate use, it could be a benefit."