FLORIDA TO CURB DISTRIBUTION OF PAINKILLER OXYCONTIN

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) Florida, hoping to make it harder for patients to
abuse the painkiller OxyContin, will stop paying for prescriptions that
exceed 120 pills in a month without prior approval from Medicaid.

The policy will take effect Sunday, the state wrote in letters sent
Monday to doctors and pharmacists.

With the move, Florida joins four other states - Maine, West Virginia,
Ohio and South Carolina - that curb the drug's distribution to Medicaid
recipients.

Medicaid will also not pay for different dosages of the time-released
drug in a 30-day period without prior approval, the letters said.

About 10 percent of all OxyContin prescriptions covered by Medicaid
would require approval, said George Kitchens, chief of Medicaid's
pharmacy services.

A spokesman for OxyContin's maker, Connecticut-based Purdue Pharma L.P.,
said he was concerned that requiring prior approval to change the drug's
strength within a 30-day period would disrupt patient care.

Doctors starting patients on a small dose will have to deal with red
tape to increase the dosage to an appropriate level, spokesman Jim Heins
said.

Florida's Medicaid spending on OxyContin rose from $4.4 million in 1998
to nearly $21 million last year, while the number of pills dispensed
rose from 1.5 million to 6.1 million over the same period, according to
Medicaid reports.

Overdoses of OxyContin and other morphine-like drugs killed 152 people
statewide during the final six months of last year, more than any other
drug, according to state medical examiners.