Official Faults Drug Company for Marketing of Its Painkiller

By BARRY MEIER

ASHINGTON, Dec. 11 — The head of the Drug Enforcement Administration testified today that he believed that the aggressive promotion of the painkiller OxyContin by its maker had played a role in its widespread abuse.

In comments before the House subcommittee on the departments of commerce, justice and state, the judiciary and related agencies, the administrator of the drug agency, Asa Hutchinson, said that Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of OxyContin, had contributed to its "disproportionate abuse" by aggressively marketing it as less prone to abuse than similar drugs.

Dr. Paul D. Goldenheim, a top executive of Purdue Pharma, which is based in Stamford, Conn., vehemently disputed any suggestion that the company had inappropriately marketed the drug.

Today's hearing came as lawmakers grappled with how to prevent powerful narcotics like OxyContin from falling into the wrong hands. The time-released drug is a valuable medication in the treatment of cancer and other types of chronic pain. But drug abusers quickly learned that the drug could provide a heroin- like high.

The drug agency has identified OxyContin as a likely factor in 296 overdose deaths since January 2000.

Mr. Hutchinson said that the company had taken steps to address some of his concerns. Representative Frank R. Wolf, Republican of Virginia, said today that he would ask the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, to conduct a study of how Purdue Pharma marketed the drug.

All those who testified today said they supported a far broader use of electronic systems that can help identify people who seek to fill unusually high numbers of prescriptions or doctors who write disproportionately large numbers of them.

At today's hearing, Dr. Goldenheim also came under questioning by Representative Harold Rogers, Republican of Kentucky, about an article on Monday in The New York Times that reported that Purdue Pharma did little if anything after salesmen were told by some pharmacists and a law enforcement official that doctors at a pain management clinic in Myrtle Beach, S.C., were suspected of inappropriately or excessively prescribing OxyContin.

Mr. Rogers pressed Dr. Goldenheim on why the company had not investigated a clinic where those questions were raised, given that the company's own sales data showed that the first-quarter growth of OxyContin sales in the Myrtle Beach area this year were significantly higher than its growth during that period in other parts of the country.

Dr. Goldenheim, the company's executive vice president for research development and regulatory and medical affairs, said that Purdue Pharma had distributed brochures to pharmacists describing how to identify individuals seeking to abuse prescription drugs. He also said that the company understood that some pharmacists in South Carolina had already contacted law enforcement officials who were investigating the clinic.

Mr. Rogers was not satisfied. "Your company did nothing and people were dying," he said.

Dr. Goldenheim replied that the company had never done anything to cause its drug to be used improperly and that there was little it could do to control the actions of doctors.

"We don't control what they prescribe," Dr. Goldenheim said. "We can't stop them from prescribing our product."

Mr. Rogers paused briefly and said, "We can."

ALL INFORMATION, DATA, AND MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR LEGAL ADVICE.  THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.