Pubdate: Fri, 23 Nov 2001
Source: Courier-Journal, The (KY)
Copyright: 2001 The Courier-Journal
Contact:  http://www.courier-journal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/97
Author: Deborah Yetter, The Courier-Journal
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?186 (Oxycontin)

EX-PROSECUTOR BECAME ADVISER TO OXYCONTIN MAKER

Famularo's New Role Came Months After He Blamed Drug For Deaths

Nine months ago, Joe Famularo -- then U.S. attorney for Kentucky's Eastern 
District -- described the narcotic painkiller OxyContin as an "epidemic, 
like some sort of locust plague rolling through southeastern Kentucky."

But upon leaving the U.S. attorney's job in June, Famularo became an unpaid 
consultant for Purdue Pharma, the Stamford, Conn.-based pharmaceutical 
company that has the exclusive right to produce and market OxyContin.

Since then, Famularo has spoken on behalf of Purdue Pharma at a Kentucky 
meeting of police chiefs and published an op-ed piece in the Lexington 
Herald-Leader in which he defended the company and its product.

"OxyContin is not the demon; its misuse is," Famularo wrote in the 
September newspaper piece.

Though Famularo said he was not paid for his work, the company did pay his 
expenses of about $600 to attend a recent meeting in Hazard where he spoke 
to law enforcement officials about OxyContin.

Famularo, who also had served on Gov. Paul Patton's task force on OxyContin 
abuse, said he's "not in the drug company's pocket."

But he isn't the only former federal prosecutor to work with Purdue Pharma, 
and that has raised criticism from some who said the company is enlisting 
highprofile public relations help to fend off growing criticism and lawsuits.

"I think using publicly known figures is a way to sway public opinion," 
said Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of the Washington-based Public Citizen 
Health Research Group.

Purdue Pharma has hired Jay McCloskey, who aggressively fought OxyContin 
abuse as Maine's U.S. attorney until he left the job in May, to represent 
the company on OxyContin issues.

McCloskey, now in private practice, said the company is one of his clients, 
and his job is to work with lawmakers and law enforcement to help curb 
abuse of the drug.

Famularo was appointed two weeks ago to oversee investigations of 
corruption within the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. He said he doesn't 
expect to continue to represent Purdue Pharma because of the demands of the 
new job, but "if I had more time, I would work with them."

Famularo and McCloskey are among several former officials or lobbyists the 
company has engaged to represent it in states where the drug is under 
attack -- in some cases through lawsuits by officials who blame the 
company's marketing practices for contributing to OxyContin abuse, 
particularly in the Northeast and in Appalachia.

Purdue Pharma officials deny any conflict in enlisting former law 
enforcement officials such as Famularo and McCloskey and said the company 
did so merely to strengthen its effort to combat abuse and illegal 
diversion of OxyContin.

"We want to make sure our efforts to liase with law enforcement are 
effective and they serve as our advisers," company spokesman James Heins said.

McCloskey headed federal prosecution of OxyContin traffickers in his state 
after abuse of the drug was identified as a growing problem in rural Maine 
in 1999.

Famularo, as the top federal prosecutor in an area hit especially hard by 
OxyContin abuse, blamed the drug for 59 deaths in Eastern Kentucky and led 
a federal and state investigation that resulted in the arrest of more than 
200 people on charges of illegal trafficking in the drug in February.

Neither sees a problem in representing the company.

"I do not regard them as the culprit any more than I would an automaker 
that people have fatal accidents in," Famularo said.

Not everyone agrees.

Dr. Art Van Zee, a St. Charles, Va., physician leading a petition drive to 
have OxyContin taken off the market, said Purdue Pharma's heavy marketing 
of the drug caused it to be widely prescribed in areas that now have high 
rates of abuse and addiction.

"The way this was promoted and marketed, in my view, clearly contributed to 
the problem," he said.

Van Zee said he thinks it's inappropriate for well-known former law 
enforcement officials to represent Purdue Pharma.

"To me it raises all kinds of ethical questions," he said. "This happens 
all the time in government and industry. It's certainly not illegal, but it 
raises a lot of questions."

Purdue Pharma says it has never inappropriately marketed the drug and that 
it promotes OxyContin only as a way to relieve suffering of those who have 
severe, chronic pain. Statements on its Web site said the company is 
committed to providing better education to physicians about how to properly 
diagnose and treat pain as well as working with law enforcement to block 
diversion and abuse.

Wolfe, the public-interest-group doctor, is skeptical and said the company 
may be simply trying to head off possible government restrictions on the 
drug and damage from pending lawsuits filed by several states and people 
who claim they became addicted.

The West Virginia attorney general has filed a lawsuit alleging Purdue 
Pharma tried to get doctors to overprescribe the drug while failing to warn 
of the dangers of addiction and abuse. A federal lawsuit has been filed in 
Eastern Kentucky against Purdue Pharma over its marketing practices. The 
suit was filed on behalf of eight people who became addicted; two of them died.

Wolfe said enlisting former federal prosecutors is simply part of an effort 
to gain credibility, much like when pharmaceutical companies hire 
distinguished medical professors when their drugs come under fire.

"They may actually believe some of this stuff," Wolfe said. "More often 
than not, I think their views are purchased."

Famularo said he first became interested in Purdue Pharma after meeting 
company representative J. David Haddox, who also served on Patton's task 
force on OxyContin abuse.

Famularo said he and Haddox became friends and that Haddox mentioned a 
possible full-time job to him. But Famularo told him he wasn't interested 
because it would involve moving to Purdue Pharma's headquarters in Connecticut.

Famularo said, however, that he became impressed with OxyContin as "a fine 
product that brings a lot of relief to suffering people" as well as with 
Purdue Pharma's commitment to reducing diversion and abuse.

After he left the U.S. attorney's job, Famularo said, the company asked him 
whether he would be willing to serve as a consultant on law enforcement issues.

McCloskey said he agreed to represent the company after he left the U.S. 
attorney's job because he, as a federal prosecutor, had worked with Purdue 
Pharma and believed its officials are sincere about wanting to curb illegal 
use of the drug. But he acknowledged some didn't agree.

"Obviously, I have taken some heat for that," he said.

OxyContin has a unique, time-release effect that brings pain relief for up 
to 12 hours with a single dose. But abusers bypass the time-relief effect 
by crushing and snorting or injecting the drug -- causing an immediate high.

The drug caught on quickly among abusers and is suspected in the deaths of 
nearly 300 people, although many of those who died were also using other 
drugs or alcohol, according to a study released in October by the U.S. Drug 
Enforcement Administration.

Van Zee, the Virginia doctor, said he began lobbying to have OxyContin 
banned after he began seeing the ravages of addiction among families he's 
treated for 25 years in Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia.

"I've seen many families destroyed by a child falling into the bondage of 
this drug," he said. "It's a terrible medical problem and a disastrous 
social problem."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jackl