In Guilty Plea, OxyContin Maker to Pay $600 Million

[Guest guest]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/10/business/11drug-web.html?_r=2 & hp= & oref=slogi

n & pagewanted=print & oref=slogin

May 10, 2007

In Guilty Plea, OxyContin Maker to Pay $600 Million

By _BARRY MEIER_

(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/barry_meier/index.\

html?inline=nyt-per)

ABINGDON, Va., May 10 — The company that makes the narcotic painkiller

OxyContin and three current and former executives pleaded guilty today in

federal

court here to criminal charges that they misled regulators, doctors and

patients about the drug’s risk of addiction and its potential to be abused.

To resolve criminal and civil charges related to the drug’s “misbranding,â€

the parent of Purdue Pharma, the company that markets OxyContin, agreed to pay

some $600 million in fines and other payments, one of the largest amounts

ever paid by a drug company in such a case.

Also, in a rare move, three executives of Purdue Pharma, including its

president and its top lawyer, pleaded guilty today as individuals to

misbranding,

a criminal violation. They agreed to pay a total of $34.5 million in fines....

************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.