PROFESSIONALS: GOOD DRUG GAINS BAD REPUTATION

The Manufacturer Of Oxycontin Says The Drug Is Overrated As A Killer.

The number of deaths linked exclusively to overdoses of the drug are
"exaggerations," according to Purdue Pharma of Stamford, Conn., the maker
of OxyContin.

Some drug counselors, coroners and addiction specialists agree that
OxyContin isn't the dangerous drug it's portrayed to be in news stories.
Professionals charge that media coverage of deaths linked to OxyContin
created a climate of hysteria that is discouraging physicians from
prescribing the drug for people who need it - cancer patients and people
with chronic pain.

The Drug Enforcement Administration reports there were 117 deaths from
OxyContin in 31 states over the past two years.

But James Heins, associate director of public affairs for Purdue, said his
company has been unable to link any of the deaths directly to OxyContin.

He said the company conducted studies of news coverage of OxyContin deaths
and cannot precisely determine how many overdoses were caused solely by
ingesting OxyContin.

Purdue also has been reviewing autopsy results from drug overdoses across
the United States that involved OxyContin, Heins said.

In many cases, Heins said, overdose victims usually have other opiates in
their blood system that make it impossible to determine exactly what drug
killed them. He said it's also difficult for experts to isolate OxyContin
as the cause of death because its main ingredient, oxycodone, is used in at
least 40 other painkillers.

"So unless there's physical evidence at the scene or a specific tablet can
be identified, there's no way to determine if OxyContin was the cause of a
death," Heins said.

Different agencies produce different numbers of OxyContin deaths.

While the DEA claims there were 117 deaths tied to OxyContin over the past
24 months, the National Institute on Drug Abuse reported in a study last
December that there were 262 oxycodone-related deaths in 1999 alone,
although none could be attributed directly to OxyContin.

Pennsylvania's Department of Health does not track drug overdose deaths by
specific drugs, said spokesman Richard McGarvey. Under opiates, there were
188 drug deaths in the state in 1999, the last year figures were available.

In Westmoreland County, there have been only two accidental deaths this
year directly related to OxyContin, said acting Coroner Skip Rusiewicz.
There were 14 other drug overdose fatalities in which victims had other
drugs in their system besides OxyContin.

One person died after taking too much OxyContin following ankle surgery. A
second person mistakenly thought he had throat cancer and injected
OxyContin along with another drug.

In the other cases, Rusiewicz said, alcohol was the leading cause of death,
although toxicology tests revealed the victims had varying amounts of
opiates, anti-convulsants, tranquilizers and amphetamines in their systems.

In 1999, there were 48 drug overdose deaths in Allegheny County, one in
Fayette and two in Cambria County, state records show.

Roz Sugarman, a drug counselor who operates Addiction Specialists Inc. in
Fayette County, also doesn't believe OxyContin is the killer it's been
portrayed to be.

"The frustration is that OxyContin is not the problem," she said. "It's
just another drug. The media, society, they all think there is an OxyContin
problem. There used to be a quaalude problem, a heroin problem, a
crystal-meth problem, an alcohol problem."

Carmen DiCello, executive director of the Pennsylvania Pharmacists
Association in Harrisburg, charged that HMOs and the insurance industry
have taken advantage of the OxyContin scare by refusing to pay for
prescriptions of the drug in some cases.

"The insurance industry has found a way to save money," DiCello said. "It's
becoming very difficult for patients to get the medication because
insurance won't pay for it. They have no clue to what a patient is going
through.

"It's outrageous that people are dying and have to go through so many hoops
to get it."

Dr. Anthony Stiles, an addiction specialist from Greensburg, said OxyContin
is the latest drug to attract the attention of drug abusers.

"Someone says, `I'm using OCs.' Some of it is a bit of a fad," he said. "If
you talk about Oxys on the street, it's a big thing. That might get some
people to try it. The addictive potential gets them to continue to use it."

Heins said Purdue has repackaged OxyContin with stronger label warnings for
physicians and has offered doctors tamper-proof prescription pads to
prevent forgeries. In Pennsylvania, more than 1,100 physicians ordered pads
from Purdue, he said.

The company also has embarked on a barnstorming tour of regions in
Pennsylvania where OxyContin addiction has increased. Company
representatives have talked to local officials, physicians and law
enforcement officials about the problems of diversion and abuse. "We've
been to the Johnstown and Altoona regions several times over the past 18
months," Heins said.

Purdue Pharma began producing OxyContin in 1995. By 2000, physicians wrote
nearly 6 million prescriptions for the drug with sales last year exceeding
$1 billion. The DEA reported more than 1 million grams of OxyContin were
prescribed in Pennsylvania last year, compared to 466,336 two years earlier.

The Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association reports a "slight decrease" in
OxyContin prescriptions this year, DiCello said.

Charles Moran, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Medical Society, said
physicians still are prescribing OxyContin for patients who need it.

"Under the right circumstances, it is a very good medication," Moran said.