Pubdate: Sun, 16 Dec 2001
Source: Tribune Review (PA)
Copyright: 2001 Tribune-Review Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://triblive.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/460
Author: Richard Gazarik
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?186 (Oxycontin)

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.
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MAP posted-by: GD