PURDUE PHARMA TO SEEK A DISMISSAL OF A MULTIBILLION-DOLLAR CLASS-ACTION LAWSUIT

JONESVILLE -- Purdue Pharma will seek a dismissal of a multibillion-dollar
class-action lawsuit on grounds that state law does not permit them, the
drug-maker's local attorney said Wednesday. Seven Southwest Virginians
filed the suit last month claiming they have suffered in some way due to
abuse of Purdue's painkiller OxyContin. They claim the company aggressively
marketed the drug while downplaying its risks. Abingdon attorney William
Eskridge, who represents the Connecticut drug-maker, called the suit
"irresponsible, unfounded and legally flawed." He filed a response to the
suit Wednesday in Circuit Court here. "Virginia state law does not permit
class-action lawsuits.

On these and other grounds, Purdue Pharma will seek to have the case
dismissed," Eskridge said. "At the heart of this litigation is a
transparent effort to demonize Purdue Pharma and exploit the adverse
publicity surrounding OxyContin, which will only end up hurting legitimate
pain patients," he said. The drug -- a synthetic morphine used to treat
severe, chronic pain -- has been linked to more than 120 deaths nationwide,
and more than three dozen Southwest Virginians have died of overdoses,
authorities say. It is a time-release formulation of the narcotic oxycodone.

Authorities say many addicts abuse the drug by removing its protective
coating, releasing 12 hours worth of painkilling power at once. The
lawsuit, filed in Lee County Circuit Court, came on the heels of a similar
suit filed a week earlier by West Virginia officials asserting that Purdue
used coercive tactics to convince doctors and pharmacists to overprescribe
the drug. Also named in the Virginia suit are Dr. Richard Norton, a former
Lee County Community Hospital emergency room doctor now serving a federal
prison sentence in South Carolina for embezzling money from the hospital,
and Dr. Shireen Brohi, who practices for Merritt Medical Group in Lebanon.
Both are accused of leading patients to addiction by needlessly prescribing
the potent drug. Brohi declined comment Wednesday, referring questions to
her attorney, Walt Peake of Roanoke, who did not immediately return
telephone calls. OxyContin abuse "is growing like a cancer, like a
wildfire," Abingdon attorney Emmitt Yeary, who represents the plaintiffs,
said last month. "There are just countless ways the drug is injuring all
people." The suit calls for Purdue to pay more than $5.2 billion in
compensatory damages to the plaintiffs and would require the pharmaceutical
giant to set up rehabilitation facilities in the region and provide ongoing
medical monitoring for patients using the drug. Plaintiffs include a
stay-at-home mother who was prescribed OxyContin after a hysterectomy and
became addicted.

Her marriage ended and she spent four months in jail after forging checks
to get drug money, according to the suit. Another is a Bristol Virginia
grandmother who filed suit on behalf of her granddaughters, who, according
to the lawsuit, were abandoned by their mother after she became addicted.
The plaintiffs' lawyers could not be reached Wednesday night for comment on
the response.