Pubdate: Fri, 21 May 2004
Source: Lexington Herald-Leader (KY)
Copyright: 2004 Lexington Herald-Leader
Contact:  http://www.kentucky.com/mld/heraldleader/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/240
Author: Roger Alford, ASSOCIATED PRESS

GENERIC OXYCONTIN ALREADY FOR SALE ILLEGALLY

Undercover Agents Buy It From Dealers In Appalachia

PIKEVILLE - The generic form of the powerful painkiller OxyContin already 
is for sale on the black market in Appalachia, even though it's not yet 
available in pharmacies.

Dan Smoot, chief detective for an anti-drug task force in Eastern Kentucky, 
said undercover narcotics investigators began purchasing the generic drug 
from street-level dealers earlier this week.

Smoot, a retired state police narcotics detective now heading law 
enforcement for Operation UNITE, said the generic drugs circulating in the 
mountain region may have been a stolen shipment intended for pharmacies in 
the region.

Kentucky State Police Detective Eddie Crum said a generic drug shipment was 
taken during a break-in at a storage facility in Pikeville. It was thought 
to be the first shipment of the generic drug into Kentucky, he said.

"It's incredible," Smoot said. "When we first got the pills, we didn't know 
what they were. They look nothing like the OxyContin we were familiar with."

OxyContin is a long-lasting version of oxycodone, a narcotic considered 
important therapy for many patients suffering chronic, moderate to severe 
pain from illnesses such as cancer. The tablet, when swallowed whole, 
provides 12 hours of pain relief.

But the drug can produce a quick and potentially lethal high if it is 
chewed, snorted or injected. It has been linked to more than 100 deaths and 
bears the government's strongest warning label, which says the drug may be 
as addictive as morphine.

The Food and Drug Administration has given approval for Teva 
Pharmaceuticals of North Wales, Pa., and Endo Pharmaceuticals of Chadds 
Ford, Pa., to sell generic versions of extended-release oxycodone.

Teva has begun marketing an 80 milligram tablet. Endo has said it will not 
market its version until Purdue Pharma, the company that created OxyContin, 
exhausts its appeals in a federal patent lawsuit.

Law enforcement officials are dreading the official release of the generic 
version, saying it could increase availability and reduce prices of the 
drug on the black market.

Karen Engle, executive director of the anti-drug task force Operation 
UNITE, said an investigation is under way to try to determine the origin of 
the generic drug now available illegally in Kentucky.

"We didn't know what type of substance our detectives had purchased at 
first," she said. "We actually had to call the poison control center to 
have them identify the substance for us."

"We knew when the FDA approved generic OxyContin that it would end up in 
the region," Engle said. "But we didn't think it would be here before the 
pharmacies got it."

Engle said the generic drugs purchased on the black market have been 
selling about $20 cheaper that the original OxyContin. She said the price 
will be even lower once the pills are available in pharmacies.

"We're bracing for it," Engle said. "We're hoping we're not hit as hard 
with the generic brands as we were with OxyContin. With this generic, 
cheaper form, it scares us. We're tremendously concerned about what could 
happen here."
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart