OXYCONTIN LAWSUITS ON HOLD FOR APPOINTED PANEL'S RULING

Two Southwest Virginia Lawsuits Await A Decision By A Panel Of Judges
Appointed By The U.S. Supreme Court.

Two federal lawsuits filed by Southwest Virginians who claim they became
addicted to OxyContin have been put on hold, and pretrial proceedings may
eventually be heard along with dozens of similar lawsuits nationwide.

A judge in U.S. District Court in Abingdon agreed to stay the proceedings
during a hearing Wednesday, according to William Eskridge, an attorney for
Purdue Pharma, the Connecticut company that makes OxyContin.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs, who accuse Purdue Pharma of overpromoting its
prescription painkiller while downplaying its addictive side, asked Judge
James Jones to delay the lawsuits until it is known whether they will be
heard through multidistrict litigation.

Such a process is used when there are a large number of similar lawsuits
filed in different states against the same defendant, Eskridge said.

More than 100 lawsuits have been filed against Purdue Pharma since abuse of
OxyContin surfaced several years ago. In addition to two federal lawsuits
filed in Southwest Virginia, a third lawsuit is pending in state court in
Tazewell County.

If a panel of judges appointed by the U.S. Supreme Court agrees that the
federal OxyContin lawsuits should be subject to multidistrict litigation, a
single judge would hear pretrial matters in all of the cases.

Once a case is ready to be tried, it would return to the state where it was
filed.

Purdue Pharma, which so far has prevailed in most of the lawsuits against
it, objected to any delay in the two Virginia cases. The company had denied
any liability, saying that abuse of its product is caused by law-breaking
addicts who crush OxyContin pills and snort or inject the powder for an
intense, heroin-like high.

"Purdue has not settled any of these cases and does not plan to settle any
of them, so we want to keep the cases moving and get them disposed of,"
Eskridge said.

Eskridge said the plaintiffs asked for a delay after attorneys in another
case pending in South Carolina filed a request for multidistrict litigation
treatment. A ruling on that issue could be months away.

Meanwhile, Jones' decision to stay the proceedings in the Virginia cases
means that an October trial date will be pushed back, Eskridge said.