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BLUMENTHAL SEEKS EFFORTS ON OXYCONTIN

STAMFORD - Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal yesterday called on Purdue Pharma to take dramatic and unprecedented steps to help control illegal use of its pain drug OxyContin. 

Blumenthal called on the Stamford-based company to take several measures, including setting up treatment programs where OxyContin abuse is most prevalent, distributing the drug through a limited number of physicians and pharmacies, and training doctors who prescribe the drug. 

"While Purdue Pharma seems sincere in seeking to address the problems, no comprehensive effective solutions have been offered," Blumenthal said.  "Very bluntly, initiatives must move beyond cosmetic and symbolic steps to deal directly with alarming and growing diversion, abuse, fraud, robbery and other lawbreaking."

A Purdue spokesman read a statement issued by the company yesterday in which officials said they planned to meet with Blumenthal next week. 

"He knows that Purdue Pharma is making substantive efforts to address the problem of prescription drug abuse and to ensure that patients continue to have access to the best pain medications available," Purdue Pharma said.  "We are concerned that the harsh tone of his letter will cause alarm among pain patients in Connecticut whose medical care would be compromised by some of the restrictive proposals he suggests."

OxyContin is a time-release pain drug, which has been highly effective for those with chronic pain.  When crushed and ingested, however, it gives a heroin-like high and can be addictive. 

The drug has been blamed in as many as 120 deaths nationwide, a number Purdue says has been exaggerated in the media. 

The company faces more than a dozen lawsuits from patients who say they have become addicted to the drug or those who blame the company for the rash of illegal OxyContin use. 

Blumenthal, a Greenwich Democrat, said the letter was aimed at raising awareness of the issue and to trigger Purdue to take what he called "common-sense measures" to combat OxyContin abuse. 

"There's no hidden agenda here," he said yesterday.  "We have authorities in some areas to take actions.  My hope is that Purdue Pharma recognizes its moral and legal responsibilities here.  The purpose of this letter is not to threaten or retaliate.  It's to urge positive and constructive action."

Among the actions Blumenthal asked Purdue to take:

* Devote funds to treatment and rehabilitation programs, citing what he called the company's "responsibility, legal and moral, to individuals who are addicted, whether they acquired the drug legitimately or illicitly;"

* Distribute the drug through select pharmacies and those physicians with extensive pain management experience;

* Create a physician certification program, in which doctors must be trained in the proper use of OxyContin and educated about its dangers and benefits;

* Adopt a pain management plan in which OxyContin is the last resort for chronic pain. 

Purdue has rejected the "central pharmacy" plan, recommended previously by the federal Drug Enforcement Agency.  Company officials said such a system would make it harder for those who have a legitimate need of the drug to obtain it.