DRUG MAKER NAMED IN LAWSUITS OVER OXYCONTIN

About 1,000 people filed separate lawsuits on Staten Island against the
manufacturer of the painkiller OxyContin yesterday, claiming they were
victims of accidental addiction.

The plaintiffs are seeking damages from the maker, Purdue Pharma, which is
based in Stamford, Conn., claiming the company dishonestly marketed the
pain pill by failing to tell doctors, pharmacists and patients about the
drug's addictive qualities, according to an attorney in the case, Tor Hoerman.

A state judge on Staten Island recently declined to certify a class-action
suit, saying the cases involved different issues and injury claims.
Instead, a coordinating judge in New York State Supreme Court was assigned
to preside over each case.

Fourteen cartons containing the lawsuits were dropped off at the courthouse
by lawyers yesterday. It took six hours for four court employees to process
the materials and assign index numbers to each lawsuit.

Similar lawsuits against Purdue Pharma have been filed elsewhere in the
country and others are pending, Mr. Hoerman said. "We hope we can finally
let a jury hear this case to bring justice for these victims," he said. We
feel there is misconduct here."

A Purdue Pharma spokesman, Timothy Bannon, said the company would
vigorously defend each of the cases and fully expected to prevail.

"Over the last four years, Purdue Pharma has never lost an OxyContin
personal-injury lawsuit," Mr. Bannon said in a statement. "On the contrary,
365 personal-injury lawsuits involving well over 1,000 plaintiffs,
including many cases brought by these same personal-injury lawyers, have
ended in Purdue's favor. We expect these new cases will be no different."

Those cases have either been dismissed by the court or withdrawn by the
plaintiffs. No case has resulted in a verdict against Purdue, although in
November 2004, the manufacturer reached an out-of-court settlement with the
West Virginia state attorney general's office, which had filed a lawsuit in
2001.

OxyContin, which won federal approval in 1995, is prescribed for patients
with terminal cancer and others with chronic pain but became a target for
abusers who figured out how to use it for a quick, heroin-like high. Purdue
Pharma has said it was not responsible for problems caused by OxyContin
abuse because the drug is safe and effective when used as intended.