FWD:Lawmaker Wants Oxycontin Removed From Market

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From: byrd45 (Original Message) Sent: 6/10/2005 4:28 PM
LAWMAKER WANTS OXYCONTIN REMOVED FROM MARKET
By Ann E. Donlan

Saturday, May 7, 2005


OxyContin maker says Lynch bill a real pain
By Ann E. Donlan
Saturday, May 7, 2005

The makers of the chronic pain medication OxyContin vowed to fight a Bay State congressman's bill that would outlaw the drug in the U.S. because of the rate of addiction and overdose deaths.

``We absolutely share a concern that the illegal use of this drug is a serious problem in the Boston area,'' said Robin Hogen, vice president of public affairs for Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin. ``It is not however a national problem. If you take it off the market because it is being abused . . . you're really allowing criminals to dictate health care policy.''

U.S. Rep. Stephen F. Lynch (D-South Boston) has filed a bill seeking to pull the controversial drug from the market, a move that prompted many medical professionals and patients taking the drug for chronic pain, to express alarm.

``It has revolutionized comfort for many of my patients,'' said Marybeth Singer, a nurse practioner at New England Medical Center who works with cancer patients.

Singer said the drug, which several patients praised yesterday because they say it is the only way they can live with chronic pain and still work and enjoy their families, is ``a very useful drug when used appropriately.''

But when it's not used as directed, the time-release drug, if crushed and then injected or snorted, can deliver an almost immediate heroin-like high that is highly addictive.

Hogen predicted that Lynch's mailbox and phone lines would be jammed from health care specialists and patients who oppose his proposed ban."


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From Keith at American RSDHope, www.RSDHope.org

The Bill is number H.R.2195.
Title: To provide for the withdrawal of the drug OxyContin from the commercial market!


Latest Major Action: 5/13/2005 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.

Currently there are no Co-sponsors but we need to write to all of our Representatives and ask them not to co-sponsor this Bill and also to write to Congressman Hogen and ask him to withdraw this piece of Legislation.


INTERESTED IN CONTACTING HIM? Thought you might be Feel free to refer him to our website to show him what RSD and pain is really all about.

Here is his email address, US Rep Stephen Lynch

His Mailing address and Phone contact information can be found on his home page at

His website is Home Page of Representative Lynch

Act to Ban OxyContin (Introduced in House)


HR 2195 IH


109th CONGRESS

1st Session

H. R. 2195
<TTITLE>To provide for the withdrawal of the drug OxyContin from the commercial market.</TTITLE>


IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

May 5, 2005
Mr. LYNCH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


A BILL
<BTITLE>To provide for the withdrawal of the drug OxyContin from the commercial market.</BTITLE>


Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Act to Ban OxyContin'.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

The Congress finds as follows:

(1) The drug OxyContin has proven to be highly addictive.

(2) The use of over-the-counter narcotics such as OxyContin has risen to as much as 9 percent among students in middle schools and high schools.

(3) Overdoses of OxyContin have increased by 450 percent in recent years.

(4) The abuse of the drug, which is prevalent in economically depressed areas, has been strongly linked to criminal activity and has in some cases overwhelmed local law enforcement.

(5) Over 1.5 million tablets of the drug were stolen from pharmacies between 2001 and 2003.

(6) The active ingredient of OxyContin, oxycodone, is twice as strong as morphine.

(7) OxyContin's time-released effect, an important element of its pharmaceutical use, is easily negated by abusers to achieve a heroin-like effect.

( The manufacturer of the drug has been cited twice for using negligent and inappropriate advertising, downplaying the potentially fatal risks of abuse.

(9) OxyContin is the first brand-name product targeted for monitoring by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

(10) Health care professionals, such as pharmacists and physicians, have been among those arrested and indicted for distributing the drug in a nonofficial capacity.

(11) The burdens of this drug to the public health outweigh its potential therapeutic benefits, and given that alternative pain medicines and methods are widely available, OxyContin should be banned.

SEC. 3. WITHDRAWAL OF DRUG OXYCONTIN FROM COMMERCIAL MARKET.

Effective upon the expiration of 45 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the approved application under section 505(b) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act for controlled-release oxycodone hydrochloride, which drug is marketed as OxyContin, is deemed to have been withdrawn under section 505(e) of such Act.