OFFICIAL FAULTS DRUG COMPANY FOR MARKETING OF ITS PAINKILLER

WASHINGTON, Dec. 11 - The head of the Drug Enforcement Administration
testified today that he believed that the aggressive promotion of the
painkiller OxyContin by its maker had played a role in its widespread
abuse.

In comments before the House subcommittee on the departments of
commerce, justice and state, the judiciary and related agencies, the
administrator of the drug agency, Asa Hutchinson, said that Purdue
Pharma, the manufacturer of OxyContin, had contributed to its
"disproportionate abuse" by aggressively marketing it as less prone
to abuse than similar drugs.

Dr. Paul D. Goldenheim, a top executive of Purdue Pharma, which is
based in Stamford, Conn., vehemently disputed any suggestion that the
company had inappropriately marketed the drug.

Today's hearing came as lawmakers grappled with how to prevent
powerful narcotics like OxyContin from falling into the wrong hands.
The time-released drug is a valuable medication in the treatment of
cancer and other types of chronic pain. But drug abusers quickly
learned that the drug could provide a heroin-like high.

The drug agency has identified OxyContin as a likely factor in 296
overdose deaths since January 2000.

Mr. Hutchinson said that the company had taken steps to address some
of his concerns. Representative Frank R. Wolf, Republican of
Virginia, said today that he would ask the General Accounting Office,
the investigative arm of Congress, to conduct a study of how Purdue
Pharma marketed the drug.

All those who testified today said they supported a far broader use
of electronic systems that can help identify people who seek to fill
unusually high numbers of prescriptions or doctors who write
disproportionately large numbers of them.

At today's hearing, Dr. Goldenheim also came under questioning by
Representative Harold Rogers, Republican of Kentucky, about an
article on Monday in The New York Times that reported that Purdue
Pharma did little if anything after salesmen were told by some
pharmacists and a law enforcement official that doctors at a pain
management clinic in Myrtle Beach, S.C., were suspected of
inappropriately or excessively prescribing OxyContin.

Mr. Rogers pressed Dr. Goldenheim on why the company had not
investigated a clinic where those questions were raised, given that
the company's own sales data showed that the first-quarter growth of
OxyContin sales in the Myrtle Beach area this year were significantly
higher than its growth during that period in other parts of the
country.

Dr. Goldenheim, the company's executive vice president for research
development and regulatory and medical affairs, said that Purdue
Pharma had distributed brochures to pharmacists describing how to
identify individuals seeking to abuse prescription drugs. He also
said that the company understood that some pharmacists in South
Carolina had already contacted law enforcement officials who were
investigating the clinic.

Mr. Rogers was not satisfied. "Your company did nothing and people
were dying," he said.

Dr. Goldenheim replied that the company had never done anything to
cause its drug to be used improperly and that there was little it
could do to control the actions of doctors.

"We don't control what they prescribe," Dr. Goldenheim said. "We
can't stop them from prescribing our product."

Mr. Rogers paused briefly and said, "We can."