|
FOR
RELEASE:
CONTACT: LESLIE CUPP
January
22,
2004
(202) 225-4601
Rogers Statement � GAO
Report on OxyContin
WASHINGTON, D.C.
� U.S. Representative Harold �Hal� Rogers (KY-5) issued the
following statement regarding the GAO Report to Congress
titled, OxyContin Abuse and Diversion and Efforts to
Address the Problem:
�OxyContin is a miracle drug
for those with severe pain. However, all too frequently, this
miracle drug has fallen into the wrong hands creating addicts
out of upstanding citizens and furthering problems among drug
abusers.
This report reinforces what I
suspected all along: Purdue Pharma has engaged in highly
questionable practices regarding the marketing of OxyContin,
leaving a plague of abuse and broken lives in its path. The
GAO report finds that the company distributed videos and
advertising in violation of FDA standards and made a number of
misleading and unsubstantiated claims. Coupled with a recent
federal finding that Purdue Pharma deliberately misled the
federal patent office, I believe the company has chosen to put
profits ahead of people and greed ahead of sound patient care.
Although the report casts a
shadow over Purdue Pharma�s marketing practices, it only
begins to scratch the surface. Important questions go
unanswered: Should Purdue Pharma have recognized excessive
dumping of OxyContin in areas unable to legitimately support
such levels? After reports of widespread OxyContin abuse
appeared in 1999, why did it take the company three years to
use their highly detailed data on physician prescribing
practices to identify patterns of abuse? Unfortunately,
Purdue Pharma is currently fending off so many lawsuits that
the General Accounting Office was prohibited by law from fully
delving into the real meat of these and other issues.
It is also clear that the FDA
dropped the ball in their initial review of OxyContin by
failing to recognize the drugs� potential for widespread
abuse. Without question, I hope the FDA will give any similar
medications a more thorough and comprehensive review before
allowing it to be prescribed to the public. I also continue
to call on the FDA to limit the prescribing of OxyContin for
severe pain only.�
-30-
|
