Judge Fines OxyContin Maker and 3 Executives

ABINGDON, Va., July 20 -- Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, and three of its executives were ordered Friday to pay a $634.5 million fine for misleading the public about the painkiller's addictive risks.

U.S. District Judge James Jones levied the fine after a hearing that included statements by people who said their lives were changed forever by the addiction potential of OxyContin, a trade name for a long-acting form of the painkiller oxycodone.

Designed to be swallowed whole and digested over 12 hours, the pills can produce a heroin-like high if crushed and then swallowed, snorted or injected. From 1996 to 2001, the number of deaths related to oxycodone nationwide increased fivefold while the annual number of OxyContin prescriptions increased by nearly 20 times, according to a report by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Michael Friedman, who retired in June as Purdue's president; general counsel Howard Udell; and former chief medical officer Paul Goldenheim pleaded guilty in May to a misdemeanor count of misbranding the drug for claiming that OxyContin was less addictive and less subject to abuse than other pain medications.

They must pay $34.5 million of the $634.5 million fine.

Jones placed the company on probation for five years and each of the executives on probation for three years. He also ordered the three to perform 400 hours of community service related to prevention of prescription drug abuse.

Jones accepted the plea agreement with reservations, saying he would have preferred to have it call for spending to educate those at risk of drug abuse and for treatment of people addicted to OxyContin.

The fines are to be distributed to state and federal law enforcement agencies, the federal government, federal and state Medicaid programs, a Virginia prescription monitoring program, and individuals who had sued the company. About $5 million will go toward a six-year company program to monitor compliance with the agreement.

Many of those who gave statements spoke at a rally before the hearing.

"One of my main infuriations with that company is that for years they denied there was an epidemic," said Ed Bisch of Palm Coast, Fla. "The first time I heard the word OxyContin was when I was told my 18-year-old son died of an overdose."