Pubdate: Sat, 06 Nov 2004 Source: Charleston Gazette (WV) Copyright: 2004 Charleston Gazette Contact: http://www.wvgazette.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/77 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/oxycontin.htm (Oxycontin/Oxycodone) OXYCONTIN LAWSUIT SETTLED Purdue Pharma To Pay State $10 Million Drugmaker Perdue Pharma has agreed to give the West Virginia Attorney General's office $10 million to end a lawsuit accusing the company of dishonestly marketing the painkiller OxyContin. The money will finance doctor continuing-education programs, law enforcement drug-prevention programs and community drug-rehabilitation programs, according to the Attorney General's office. A McDowell County circuit judge approved the settlement Thursday before jury selection was scheduled to begin, Managing Deputy Attorney General Will Steele said Friday. "We are pleased to put aside our differences and begin a working partnership which will benefit all West Virginians," said Purdue Pharma spokesman Tim Bannon. "Those funds and those programs will make a real difference in the lives of individuals and families confronted with the problem of prescription drug abuse." Attorney General Darrell McGraw filed the lawsuit in 2001, about five years after the Stamford, Conn.-based company began shipping OxyContin to West Virginia pharmacies. The lawsuit sought to recoup at least the $30.5 million state agencies spent on OxyContin between 1996 and 2003. The state's lawyers claimed Purdue Pharma did not tell doctors, pharmacists and patients about the morphine-like drug's addictive qualities because it wanted to sell more pills, according to court filings and hearing transcripts. As a result, "excessive and unnecessary" prescriptions for OxyContin were made to beneficiaries of state programs, the lawsuit alleged. The Federal Drug Administration approved OxyContin in 1995 to help terminal cancer patients and others deal with chronic pain. If taken properly, the pill slowly releases its active ingredient, oxycodone, into the system. Abusers circumvent the pill's time-release feature by crushing the pills and snorting or injecting the powder to get the same kind of euphoric high that heroin brings. Purdue Pharma has said it is not responsible for problems caused by OxyContin abuse because the drug is safe and effective when used as intended. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek