OxyContin maker facing 13 lawsuits

The maker of OxyContin has been hit with at least 13 lawsuits from patients who have become addicted to the painkiller and others who want to hold the company responsible for an alarming wave of overdoses and deaths among abusers.

“This drug has been like a cancer attacking the very fabric of our little corner of the world,” said Ira Branham, a lawyer and state legislator from Pikeville, Ky., who is suing on behalf of three people and the estate of a dead woman. He said the responsibility should “fall on the shoulders of the company that was the genesis of this problem.”

OxyContin, America’s best-selling narcotic painkiller, is made by Purdue Pharma LP of Stamford, Conn.

Many of the plaintiffs say they received OxyContin legitimately and became addicted by taking the prescribed dose. Other lawsuits seek to hold the company responsible for illegal use of the drug, which has become a deadly scourge in some parts of the country, especially Appalachia.

Among those suing is the state of West Virginia, which alleges Purdue Pharma violated state consumer law.

“They were telling doctors that OxyContin was far less addictive than other painkillers in this class of drugs,” said Doug Davis, an assistant attorney general in West Virginia. “Now, we have a lot of people addicted to OxyContin in West Virginia. So was that a misleading statement? Yeah.”

Purdue Pharma spokesman James Heins disputed the allegations, saying victims were using the drug illegally or improperly. Dr. J. David Haddox, senior medical director, said the chances of someone becoming addicted when taking OxyContin as directed are extremely small.

“A lot of these people say, ‘Well, I was taking the medicine like my doctor told me to,’ and then they start taking more and more and more,” Haddox said. “I don’t see where that’s my problem.”

Already, the billions of dollars in claims represent more than what Purdue Pharma has made on OxyContin.

OxyContin is a slow-release narcotic that is prescribed for victims of moderate to severe chronic pain from ailments such as arthritis, back trouble and cancer. One pill is designed to last 12 hours, but those who abuse OxyContin usually crush it and then snort or inject it, producing a quick, heroinlike high.

OxyContin abuse first became widespread in Maine and in mountainous areas of Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee. It since has spread to urban centers including Boston, Philadelphia and South Florida.

OxyContin abuse has been blamed for more than 100 deaths nationwide. Purdue Pharma said those estimates are unreliable, and that in the vast majority of those cases the victims were abusing other drugs at the same time.

To try to curb illegal use, Purdue Pharma and the Food and Drug Administration announced an agreement this week to place the strongest warning possible on the painkiller, stressing to doctors that the pills are only for patients with serious pain and that improper use can cause addiction and death.

Florida, Maine, West Virginia, Ohio and South Carolina have put restrictions on the drug’s distribution to Medicaid recipients. Some pharmacies in Virginia are considering fingerprinting everyone who fills a prescription for painkillers.

At Purdue Pharma, a family-owned company that has been media-shy throughout most of its 109-year history, Heins said he knows of at least 13 lawsuits since May.

OxyContin, introduced in December 1995, has been a breakthrough drug for Purdue Pharma, accounting for 83 percent of its revenue this year. Doctors wrote 6.9 million prescriptions for OxyContin from May 2000 to May 2001, producing $1.27 billion in sales, according to IMS Health, a health information company.

To get the word out about the new drug, Purdue Pharma invited hundreds of doctors to pain management meetings. Some doctors were recruited to instruct their peers at seminars, which stressed the importance of aggressively treating pain.

“Aggressive marketing of pharmaceuticals has been on the rise for the past few years,” said Steven Findlay, director of research at the National Institute for Health Care Management. “What we’re seeing is a marketing campaign that has gotten a little too assertive and had the unfortunate result of increasing the prescriptions of the drug that were clearly inappropriate.”

John Craig, a pharmacist in Scottsburg, Ind., said OxyContin salesmen from Purdue Pharma were “in your face.”

“It was as if OxyContin was the best drug out there,” Craig said. “They said it had a low potential for abuse. That’s what we were told at the beginning. I think everyone was surprised – and they were probably, too – when we started seeing all the overdoses.”

Dr. Jerry A. Menikoff, an expert in public health law at the University of Kansas Medical School, said if plaintiffs could show that Purdue Pharma downplayed the risks, the OxyContin lawsuits could stick.

“The question is, did the manufacturer properly notify the consumer of all the risks?” Menikoff said. “If you’re pushing inappropriate uses of medication, then you can be responsible for the consequences.”

Dr. Claire V. Wolfe, an expert in chronic pain at Ohio State University, said if the lawsuits succeed in discouraging Purdue Pharma from selling OxyContin, her patients will suffer.

“You would take away a drug that is a really big help,” Wolfe said. “Frankly, I think [prescription drug abuse] is the doctors’ responsibility. It’s the physician who’s writing the prescription.”