LAWSUIT TARGETS OXYCONTIN

Mcgraw Calls Marketing 'Coercive And Deceptive'

West Virginia Attorney General Darrell McGraw Jr. wants the company
that makes the powerful painkiller OxyContin to stop pushing it on
doctors who prescribe the drug to undeserving patients, according to a
lawsuit filed Monday.

In a case filed Monday in McDowell Circuit Court, McGraw alleges that
the defendants have been "coercive and deceptive" in marketing
OxyContin to doctors in order to make more money and form an illegal
monopoly on the pain medication market. The suit names Purdue Pharma
Inc., Purdue Pharma LP, the Purdue Frederick Company, Abbott
Laboratories Inc. and Abbott Laboratories.

"This has taken the market by storm over the past five years," McGraw
said. "It is a major threat to public health in our area."

Ten counties in Southern West Virginia account for 48 percent of the
total OxyContin prescriptions paid for by DHHR, the lawsuit states.

The drug was released in 1995 to help patients with cancer and other
chronic pain. But some people have discovered a way to eliminate the
drug's timed release - which was supposed to be it's biggest advantage
- - and expose the pure oxycodone.

In recent years, the drug has become a target for thieves in
pharmacies, who can sell the drug on the streets for as much as $1 per
milligram.

Until this year, OxyContin was available in five strengths - 10, 20,
40, 80 and 160 milligrams. In May, less than one year after being
introduced, Purdue Pharma pulled the 160 milligram tablets because of
alleged abuse.

When used properly, the drug can be very effective to treat pain,
McGraw said Monday. Doctors and addiction specialists have backed up
that claim in previous reports.

In the suit, McGraw alleges that the defendants have used a marketing
campaign that pressures West Virginia doctors to prescribe the drug,
even if patients don't need it.

Paul Nusbaum, secretary of the state Department of Health and Human
Resources, said Monday that some doctors, especially in rural areas,
have been pressured by drug representatives to prescribe the drug.

"A lot of the use and the abuse is in small rural communities,"
Nusbaum said. "When you have rural physicians who are isolated and get
visits from drug representatives, they are told that if they don't use
this drug [OxyContin] that they can be sued for malpractice."

Other doctors have been approached as well. In March, Dr. William
Harris of Charleston said that he had been threatened for failing to
prescribe OxyContin. One Purdue Pharma rep told Harris that he could
be subject to a lawsuit if he didn't prescribe OxyContin for
Osteoporosis.

Harris said he refers his chronic pain patients to a pain specialist,
so he resisted the sales pitch. "When he became irate," said Harris,
"I threw him out of my office." He said he did not have similar
problems with any other drug representatives.

In May 2000, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a stern
warning to Purdue Pharma for a similar practice of misleading
patients. A Purdue Pharma ad promised that OxyContin can be used as a
first-line therapy for the treatment of arthritis, the FDA letter
states. But FDA officials argued in the letter that this was not an
effective use for the drug and issued the following statement:

"You should immediately discontinue the use of this journal
advertisement and all other promotional materials for OxyContin that
contain the same or similar claims or presentations."

The advertisement was withdrawn after the FDA's warning, the lawsuit
states.

McGraw alleges in the seven-count suit that the drug was marketed
directly to consumers. An Internet site titled "Partners Against
Pain," was established to promote the drug.

In West Virginia alone, DHHR spent more than $4 million on 27,771
prescriptions for OxyContin in 2000. That's 2 percent of the
prescription drug costs for that year, the suit states.

And it's the highest rate for any drug prescribed, said Phil Lynch,
DHHR deputy secretary.

A negligence count in the suit states that the manufacturers had an
obligation to exercise reasonable care in the marketing and making of
the drug. The state seeks compensation on several of the counts to pay
the state back for prescription costs and medical costs the state has
paid as a result of the misuse of OxyContin.