ABUSE REPORTS BRING MEETING ON PAINKILLER

Manufacturer Wants Education On Drug's Risks

Virginia Attorney General Mark L. Earley (R) has requested a meeting with
officials from the drug company that makes OxyContin, a narcotic painkiller
that authorities say has touched off an epidemic of abuse across southwest
Virginia and is making its way to metropolitan Washington.

In requesting the meeting with executives at Purdue Pharma L.P. -- the
Stamford, Conn., drugmaker -- Earley is seeking assurances that the company
is working to deter illegal sales and is educating the public about dangers.

Officials in several states have said abuse of OxyContin, which is often
used to ease the suffering of terminally ill cancer patients, has soared to
dangerous levels.

In southwest Virginia, there have been reports of almost 30 fatal
overdoses, and police in Northern Virginia are investigating about a dozen
OxyContin overdoses. A Purdue Pharma spokesman said yesterday that the
company is investigating those reports and believes them to be inaccurate.

Purdue Pharma executives yesterday agreed to meet with Earley and hope to
work with law enforcement agencies to educate the public about the
painkiller while ensuring that patients who need OxyContin have access to
it. Purdue Pharma initiated meetings with U.S. attorneys in Virginia and
Maine last year after learning of the abuse.

"Our product is being abused, and we've taken on a responsibility to try to
prevent that abuse," said James W. Heins, a company spokesman. "Education
will be a key to resolving the situation, as will working with law
enforcement to help curb the illicit traffic of these controlled substances."

Heins said recent publicity about the abuse has already had an adverse
effect on patients using OxyContin. Some doctors are refusing to issue
refills, pharmacists are becoming hesitant to stock the drug, and some
patients have reported being treated like criminals when they fill
prescriptions.

Earley, who is seeking his party's nomination for governor, wrote to the
company Wednesday. In the letter, obtained by The Washington Post
yesterday, Earley wrote that the "widespread illegal sale of OxyContin has
created an epidemic of addiction and a surge in criminal behavior" in Virginia.

According to the letter, prosecutors in Tazewell County have charged more
than 150 people with OxyContin-related felonies in the past 18 months,
including thefts, burglaries and shoplifting. A recent study, cited in the
letter, found that one in 10 seventh-graders in Lee County has tried the
drug, while one in five 12th-graders has.

David Botkins, a spokesman for Earley's office, compared the rash of crime
and addiction to past trends involving crack and heroin.

"But what makes this more complicated is that you've got a legal drug that
can be prescribed for appropriate medical uses that is falling into the
hands of those who would illegally distribute it," Botkins said. "The
ability to clearly target the bad guy in this situation is much more complex."