Pubdate: Tue, 15 Feb 2005
Source: Tampa Tribune (FL)
Copyright: 2005, The Tribune Co.
Contact:  http://www.tampatrib.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/446
Author: Elaine Silvestrini, Tampa Tribune
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?232 (Chronic Pain)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/oxycontin.htm (Oxycontin/Oxycodone)

DESPITE LOSS, OXYCONTIN FOES CHEER LAWSUIT

TAMPA - When Karen White sued the makers of OxyContin, she had some
dedicated supporters in the courtroom.

Though White lost her federal lawsuit against Purdue Pharma Inc. on
Feb. 8, Ed Bisch and Lee Nuss maintained that just getting the case to
court was a victory. Both say they lost 18-year-old sons to OxyContin
abuse, and they lay some of the blame on the drug maker and its
marketing practices.

White claimed that Purdue Pharma fired her as a sales representative
because she refused to participate in illegal marketing practices in
selling the potent pain pill.

"I am here to support Karen White," said Nuss, of Palm Coast, whose
son Randall died May 5, 2003, of acute oxycodone intoxication.
Oxycodone is the active ingredient in OxyContin. "Morally and
ethically, she was doing the right thing. ... Win or lose, we are
gratified that it [went to the jury] because the truth is going to
come out."

Nuss said she had trouble getting pregnant and relied on fertility
treatments to have her son. "It took me 11 years to get this boy,"
she said. "Miracle drugs brought this boy into the world and,
ironically enough, 18 1/2 years after he was born, a so-called miracle
drug, OxyContin, took him away."

Bisch, who runs a Web site called oxyabusekills.com, took vacation
from his job as a computer operations specialist and drove to Tampa
from his Philadelphia home to attend the trial.

He said his son, Eddie, died Feb. 19, 2001, six days before the two of
them were to fly to Florida for a father-son fishing vacation. Bisch
said Eddie was "a typical teen at a party [who] did some drugs. They
just don't know the power."

Watching the trial with Bisch and Nuss were several others who say
they lost their loved ones because of OxyContin. U.S. Magistrate Mary
Scriven, who said the jury could be improperly influenced, barred them
from wearing pins proclaiming their opposition to the company. The
pins bore the letters "RAPP," for Relatives Against Purdue Pharma.

Company's Perspective

A Purdue Pharma attorney said the company is sorry about the young
men's deaths but rejects any assertion that implicates its marketing
practices.

Special counsel Tim Bannon said: "We have nothing but sympathy for
their losses. We agree with the premise that abusing OxyContin is at
least harmful and can kill. We take no issue with that.

"We disagree with the contention that the company's marketing
practices have produced abuse. ... There have been lawsuits filed
against the company making those claims. Two hundred sixty-five either
have been dismissed or withdrawn by the plaintiffs without anything
being paid in settlement," he said, with the exception of a West
Virginia lawsuit settled with no admission of wrongdoing.

In her lawsuit, White, of Lakeland, maintained that she lost her job
Aug. 12, 2002, in retaliation for refusing to break the law by pushing
doctors to increase prescription dosages of OxyContin, regardless of
the doctors' training and without respect to patients' needs.

The company responded by saying White merely had personal issues with
the product she was hired to sell and that it was appropriate to
educate doctors about the benefits of increasing dosages of OxyContin
to help patients.

Purdue critics maintain that the company's aggressive sales tactics
have flooded the market with the drug, increasing its availability for
abuse. "The trail of addiction and death due to the OxyContin
epidemic was fueled by the over prescribing and easy street access to
this powerful narcotic," says Bisch's Web site. "Instead of
acknowledging the problem, Purdue denied it, as they aggressively
marketed this powerful narcotic to general practitioners for moderate
pain. They downplayed the risks and exaggerated the benefits; however,
they were not selling widgets, but a powerful drug that almost always
causes addiction that often leads to death."

Restrictions Sought

Nuss and Bisch said they want the drug reclassified so its use is
restricted to patients with severe pain.

Bannon said such a classification would leave "an enormous number of
people who use the medication properly without an option."

Bannon also said addiction is rare for patients who are prescribed the
drug. Even then, he said, often those people have other substance
abuse problems. He cited reports that show most deaths initially
attributed to OxyContin involved people who also had other drugs in
their system.

Bannon provided information about hundreds of thousands of dollars in
grants given by the company toward substance abuse prevention.

"I believe no other company has done as much as Purdue Pharma to
prevent the abuse and diversion not only of its products, but of any
prescription medication," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Derek