CONNECTICUT PURSUES PROBE OF OXYCONTIN MANUFACTURER

STAMFORD, Conn. -- Connecticut's attorney general is asking other states to
join in investigating whether the maker of the powerful painkiller
OxyContin blocked the development of cheaper generic alternatives.

The planned antitrust probe Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal
announced Tuesday came a day after a federal judge found that
Stamford-based Purdue Pharma's patents protecting its painkiller were
invalid because the company deliberately misled the U.S. Patent Office.
Purdue Pharma officials have said they will appeal the ruling.

Separately Tuesday, Purdue Pharma was hit with a federal lawsuit in New
Haven, Conn., alleging violations of antitrust laws. The lawsuit, which
seeks class-action status, was filed by the Connecticut Citizen Action
Group and others and alleges the company unlawfully obtained and enforced a
monopoly for OxyContin through misrepresentations to the Patent Office,
forcing users of the painkiller to pay higher prices.

Mr. Blumenthal said Monday's ruling offers strong evidence that the company
may have deprived consumers of more affordable alternatives. "We will
investigate aggressively and vigorously possible legal action seeking
antitrust remedies and we've already begun organizing other states to do so
with us," he said.

"The court's decision provides a very clear road map for claims based on
its dramatic findings of anticompetitive and possibly deceptive conduct,"
Mr. Blumenthal said. "There are few investigations that begin with such a
powerful and compelling federal court finding about anticompetitive conduct
as we seem to have here."

Howard Udell, chief legal officer for Purdue Pharma, said the company will
cooperate with any investigation and will show Purdue Pharma didn't mislead
the patent office or engage in anticompetitive behavior.

Monday's ruling by U.S. District Judge Sidney H. Stein would allow Endo
Pharmaceuticals Inc. to put its own version of OxyContin on the shelves.
That could substantially affect Purdue, a closely held company whose
revenue is largely derived from sales of OxyContin.

Last year, about seven million OxyContin prescriptions were written for
about $1.27 billion in sales, Purdue Pharma said.

OxyContin was hailed as a breakthrough in the treatment of severe chronic
pain when it was introduced in 1996. But the drug has become a problem in
recent years after users discovered that crushing the time-release tablets
and snorting or injecting the powder yields an immediate, heroin-like high.