OK, sorry, but this is a personal pet peeve of mine, as some of you know. i had an absolutely horrid experience behind Oxycontin and a certain PM doc who shall remain nameless.

if you read the article or other press accounts of this matter closely i think you will gather that what they actually found the manufacturer guilty of is a bit more dastardly than a bum steer on the marketing front by targeting a perhaps naive demographic in going after internists who admittedly aren't familiar with the insidious nature of drug addiction (albeit iatrogenic), nor the wily ways of the drug addict who lies and manipulates to get their drug of choice.

(yes, if i sound a little too educated on the subject, i have been to rehab folks...).

it is my understanding that the makers of Oxycontin totally fabricated clinical trials which it had NOT conducted, in order to obtain FDA approval of Oxycontin. They were in a hurry to do so at the time (Endo could tell you why...).

the chairman of the board also went before the FDA, claiming this medication to be "no more addictive than an aspirin..." and that the end to cancer pain and chronic pain was well in hand if the feds would only approve the miracle drug!

who needs snake oil in this day and age?

for both of those representations are patently false. pun intended.

and while i agree than an extended release delivery system is on its face a good thing, and that no chronic pain patient in enough agony to need narcotics should be relying on short-acting medication alone to "control" pain, Oxycontin as we all know by now has a totally penetrable delivery system. hillbilly heroin and boy, howdy!

why, it says right there on the bottle, "do not crush or chew," or words to that effect.

that's an invitation to an addict if ever i heard one!

now, as many of you know there was also a huge lawsuit having to do with trademark infringement between Endo and Purdue Pharma which settled last year i believe, having to do with the fact that the former had brought a generic version of oxy to market, which was found to be actionable and a patent infringement (i'm not a lawyer, just making this stuff up as i go along, but something like that anyway). big pharmaceutical giants wrangling, quite a mess 'til the judge made them play nice!

more packs of lies, all with money at the heart and patients' needs could not be further from their interests. are we at least all agreed on that point?

in my own personal experience and opinion, and this is just my own take on it everyone, we all react differently to these meds and for some it may be different, Oxycontin is a very nasty drug. there, i've said it.

it may work at first to "manage" the pain. then, it stops working, or you need more. and more. then, it stops working. and slowly, inexorably, it starts working AGAINST you. it actually starts to create more pain in your already ravaged body. yeah, you read that correctly.

Oxycontin creates the very sx it was designed to tx. PAIN. period. not saying this was intentional or proven in court, but certain things not only were proven, weren't they, but were ADMITTED to and pled to in court. you have to wonder what else there is and is not being said here, or i do anyway...

to the tune of $600M PLUS in damages awarded to the FDA. against Purdue Pharma and certain execs including its top lawyer. and the class action cases are just starting, better believe it.

so, not having any tylenol in it was a good thing. true, that. but Opana doesn't have any tylenol in it, either. Nor Kadian. Nor MS Contin or a bunch of other long-acting meds.

OK, no more lecture.

PS, i was NOT chewing the damned pills, doctor X!!!!

i feel vindicated now.

my name is alison, and i am not an addict.