LOCAL SUES OXYCONTIN MAKERS, SAYS THEY HAVE UNLAWFUL MONOPOLY

GREENEVILLE - A Cocke County man wants OxyContin taken off the market. He
also wants the Purdue Pharma Co. to make a refund to anyone in Tennessee
who has ever purchased the powerful pain medication. Nease Woodson filed a
class-action lawsuit against Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, in
Cocke County Circuit Court last month. Since then the case has been
transferred to U.S. District Court in Greeneville.

Knoxville attorney Gordon Ball represents Woodson.

The lawsuit alleges Purdue Pharma unlawfully obtained and enforced a
monopoly for OxyContin through intentional misrepresentations to the U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office.

The lawsuit also alleges that Woodson purchased OxyContin at
"supra-competitive prices" because of Purdue Pharma's actions.

In order to get a drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration, a
company must submit reports from experts and information to prove the drug
is safe to put on the market.

A spokesman for Ball's law office said the reports and information Purdue
Pharma submitted to the FDA overestimated the benefits and effects of
OxyContin.

"They told the patent office that OxyContin was a very unique drug because
it was effective at low dosages," he said. "We know now that wasn't true,
and we know now that they knew it wasn't true when they told the FDA."

When a company gains approval from the FDA to put a drug on the market, the
company receives a patent for the drug that prevents other companies from
making a generic version of the drug for a certain period of time.

OxyContin went on the market in December 1995, and no generic version of
the drug had been approved by the FDA until March 24 of this year.

"It created a monopoly for OxyContin, and when other generic companies
tried to put a cheaper drug on the market, they couldn't because Purdue
Pharma sued them," the spokesman said. "Not only was it the only thing out
there, but it turns out it was killing people."

OxyContin is pain medication prescribed to patients suffering long-term,
severe pain from illness such as cancer. If chewed, snorted or injected,
the drug offers a quick and potentially lethal high.

OxyContin has been linked to more than 100 deaths and bears the FDA's
strongest warning label, which said the drug may be as addictive as morphine.

The lawsuit is asking for Purdue Pharma to refund all OxyContin purchases
in Tennessee and to take the drug off the market.

"All we're seeking is to get back what we paid for the drug because it
shouldn't have been on the market to begin with," the spokesman said. "This
is a dangerous drug, and one of the reasons that it's so dangerous is
because it's so easy to become addicted."

Purdue Pharma denies the allegations and is asking that the lawsuit be
dismissed.

The Woodson lawsuit is not the first class-action lawsuit filed against
Purdue Pharma.

In January, a number of consumer groups and individuals in Connecticut
filed a lawsuit against Purdue Pharma claiming that the drug maker reaped
billions in unlawful profit from OxyContin through fraudulent patents and
sham lawsuits that blocked generic alternatives.

In July, federal and state courts in Florida, Mississippi and West Virginia
dismissed six OxyContin lawsuits against Purdue Pharma.