OXYCONTIN LAWSUIT SETTLED

Purdue Pharma To Pay State $10 Million

Drugmaker Perdue Pharma has agreed to give the West Virginia Attorney
General's office $10 million to end a lawsuit accusing the company of
dishonestly marketing the painkiller OxyContin.

The money will finance doctor continuing-education programs, law
enforcement drug-prevention programs and community drug-rehabilitation
programs, according to the Attorney General's office.

A McDowell County circuit judge approved the settlement Thursday
before jury selection was scheduled to begin, Managing Deputy Attorney
General Will Steele said Friday.

"We are pleased to put aside our differences and begin a working
partnership which will benefit all West Virginians," said Purdue
Pharma spokesman Tim Bannon. "Those funds and those programs will make
a real difference in the lives of individuals and families confronted
with the problem of prescription drug abuse."

Attorney General Darrell McGraw filed the lawsuit in 2001, about five
years after the Stamford, Conn.-based company began shipping OxyContin
to West Virginia pharmacies.

The lawsuit sought to recoup at least the $30.5 million state agencies
spent on OxyContin between 1996 and 2003.

The state's lawyers claimed Purdue Pharma did not tell doctors,
pharmacists and patients about the morphine-like drug's addictive
qualities because it wanted to sell more pills, according to court
filings and hearing transcripts.

As a result, "excessive and unnecessary" prescriptions for OxyContin
were made to beneficiaries of state programs, the lawsuit alleged.

The Federal Drug Administration approved OxyContin in 1995 to help
terminal cancer patients and others deal with chronic pain. If taken
properly, the pill slowly releases its active ingredient, oxycodone,
into the system.

Abusers circumvent the pill's time-release feature by crushing the
pills and snorting or injecting the powder to get the same kind of
euphoric high that heroin brings.

Purdue Pharma has said it is not responsible for problems caused by
OxyContin abuse because the drug is safe and effective when used as
intended.