DOCTOR PLEADS NOT GUILTY

Knox Faces Charges Related To OxyContin

ROANOKE - Standing before his loyal patients, a Roanoke doctor pleaded not
guilty yesterday to federal charges that he overprescribed OxyContin and
other drugs that allegedly killed or injured 10 people.

Dr. Cecil Knox is the latest in a growing number of doctors to be accused
of contributing to a nationwide scourge of OxyContin abuse.

Knox's arraignment brought tears to the eyes of some of his patients.
Nearly 50 of them showed up in U.S. District Court to offer their support.
After the two-minute hearing, many of them fervently told reporters that
only Knox among all the doctors in Roanoke can adequately treat their
chronic pain.

"Nobody has been interested so far in why we depend on Dr. Knox," said
30-year-old Melissa Smith, a patient of Knox's for four years. "It has
nothing to do with the fact that he gives us medicine. It's his knowledge.
The reason we are dependent on him is because he has specialized
qualifications in how to treat the human body."

However, federal prosecutors allege that Knox profited by knowingly
prescribing OxyContin to addicts. Hailed as a godsend for cancer patients
and others with crippling pain, OxyContin also has been prone to abuse,
giving illicit users a heroinlike high.

Five doctors in Southwest Virginia have been sentenced on OxyContin-related
charges, and earlier this week, a Florida doctor became the first in the
nation to be convicted of manslaughter after four of his patients overdosed
on OxyContin.

Knox, 52, faces 10 counts of illegally distributing medication for no
legitimate medical purpose "resulting in serious bodily injury or death,"
according to the indictment against him.

Charged along with Knox are his nurse, Beverly Gale Boone, 43, of Roanoke,
and Tiffany T. Durham, 28, of Blue Ridge, who operated a prescription
refill "hot line" in Knox's clinic, known as Virginia Physical Medicine and
Rehabilitation.

The three face a charge of conspiring to illegally distribute drugs for no
legitimate medical purpose and 15 additional counts each of illegally
distributing drugs. Yesterday Durham, standing near Knox, also pleaded not
guilty.

Prosecutors allege Knox's office has been illegally selling pills since
1992, but mostly since 1996, after OxyContin first became available. The
indictment alleges that Knox and his two assistants overprescribed not just
OxyContin, but a variety of drugs including methadone, oxycodone, Dilaudid,
Duragesic, Xanax, Diazepam and Ambien.

If convicted, Knox could face life in prison, a fine of $27.05 million and
the forfeiture of $1 million in personal property and real estate in
Virginia and Idaho. Boone and Durham also face life in prison and
multimillion-dollar fines if convicted of all counts.