DEADLY DRUG SHOULD BE TAKEN OFF MARKET

Within the past month, two of my friends have died of the same poison. Many
folks say they did it to themselves, and, in a sense, they are right.
Nevertheless, they had help. Sadly, that help is FDA-approved and
physician-prescribed. OxyContin and the illegal drug heroin have similar
effects. It is even called "poor man's heroin," not because the street
price is low, but because insurance will pay for it if it is prescribed for
a covered illness. The National Drug Intelligence Center's January
information bulletin on OxyContin diversion and abuse states that the abuse
of the drug is likely to continue and increase. Even if insurance does not
pay, a bottle of 100 40-milligram tablets cost around $400 and can bring
$2,000 to $4,000 on the street.

In the same paragraph of the NDIC's report is the sentence, "Law
enforcement officials, physicians, pharmacists and representatives of
Purdue Pharma L.P. are working together to find methods to limit diversion
and abuse." Even so, Purdue Pharma LP released a 160-milligram OxyContin
tablet in July 2000. In May 2001, it temporarily suspended shipment of the
160-milligram tablets, even though there have been few reports of that
tablet being diverted and abused. The fatalities are occurring due to abuse
of the original strengths of 10, 20, 40 and 80-milligram tablets.
Curiously, before OxyContin, the strongest available dose of the active
drug in the tablet, oxycodone hydrochloride, was 5 milligrams. Couldn't the
FDA and Purdue Pharma L.P. see the potential for abuse? What happened to
the long, expensive clinical trials that are often used to explain the high
cost of health care? OxyContin was FDA approved in May 1996, the same year
it was developed and patented by Purdue Pharma L.P.!

Law enforcement agencies assure us that the war on drugs will intensify to
prevent more tragic death attributable to the abuse of OxyContin. News
articles tell us that OxyContin killed 10 Laurens County residents in the
past year.

I must confess that I am confused. How many more have to die? Other
products that cause deaths are instantly recalled. Why doesn't the FDA take
OxyContin off the market?

Gene Hogan
Kinards