OXYCONTIN MAKER, STATE MAY RESUME TALKS

TALLAHASSEE -- OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma says it is willing to
negotiate with Florida over $1.5 million the state will lose because
lawmakers balked at creating a prescription tracking system.

The Connecticut-based pharmaceutical company struck a deal with the Florida
attorney general's office in 2002, agreeing to fund what it hoped would be
a model drug monitoring system for the rest of the nation to copy.

In return, then-Attorney General Bob Butterworth stopped his inquiry into
how Purdue Pharma marketed its popular and addictive painkiller OxyContin.

But on July 1, Florida will fail to meet its end of the bargain: create a
state prescription drug-tracking system. On the final day of this year's
legislative session, a bill to create the system was defeated on the floor
of the House.

Attorney General Charlie Crist said Wednesday he believes Purdue Pharma has
a "duty and obligation" to renegotiate with Florida. He said he would
"probably" pursue a new agreement.

No talks between Purdue Pharma and Florida have started, said Alan Must,
vice president of state government and legislative affairs for the company.

"We certainly would be willing to enter into discussion with Charlie
Crist," Must said. "This is a very important issue for us."

The deal stems from allegations that Purdue Pharma "aggressively" marketed
OxyContin. State medical examiners found oxycodone, the generic drug that
includes OxyContin, was involved in the deaths of 256 Floridians that year.

Though other prescription drugs are responsible for more overdoses,
OxyContin became synonymous of the state's growing prescription drug abuse
problem, which is now blamed for an estimated five overdose fatalities a day.

Purdue Pharma agreed to pay up to $2 million to create a drug monitoring
system akin to ones now in use in some 20 other states. If Florida misses
the July 1 deadline, Purdue Pharma will instead provide just $500,000 for
education programs.

The proposed system would have required pharmacies to report prescriptions
to the state, building a database that would allow doctors and pharmacists
to check patient medication histories before giving them new drugs.

In addition to curtailing doctor shopping -- obtaining the same
prescriptions from multiple doctors -- Gov. Jeb Bush said the system would
help prevent medication errors and expose doctors who over- prescribe
dangerous drugs.

Opponents, including Rep. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, and Rep. Joe Negron,
R-Stuart, said the effort is an unwarranted intrusion of privacy.

"State government has no right to collect and monitor private medical
records," Negron said. "We need a fresh approach and we need new ideas."

But Gelber said he might be persuaded to go along with something "smaller,
more digestible" that tracked only certain drugs.

Bush said Wednesday he will try again next year, preferably with money from
Purdue Pharma but "if not, we'll propose it with state dollars."

And DEA Administrator Karen Tandy told those attending the state's annual
drug abuse symposium in Tallahassee Wednesday that such databases are the
"silver bullet" against prescription drug abuse.