| TO: U.S. Senators,
All Attorney Generals and Associated Press Offices
RE: Purdue Pharma and OxyContin Since the beginning of 2003, I have been waging a campaign of alerting all government agencies and news media of the mass marketing of a highly addictive Schedule II narcotic called OxyContin. This drug has been mass marketed by a privately held pharmaceutical company headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut called Purdue Pharma. I am sure you are well aware of the devastation this drug has caused throughout our country, but because of the brilliant marketing strategies used by Purdue Pharma, it is just now being exposed. My interest in holding Purdue Pharma accountable for the marketing of OxyContin is because my 29-year old daughter, Jill had the misfortune of being prescribed the drug in January 2002 and took it for four months before dying on April 29, 2002 leaving behind a 6 year old son, Brian. The concern for me is that Purdue Pharma is now attempting to get approval from the FDA for a drug called Palladone. If the FDA approves Palladone for moderate pain, I believe it will make OxyContin look like a day at the beach. Palladone will have 32 mg. of time released hydromorphine equal to 320 mgs of morphine. How much more devastation do we need to witness in families devastated by a corporation marketing profit – not pain management before they are stopped? For your information, the UK approved Palladone only for cancer pain. Please read the Orlando Sentinel 5 part series on the Internet this week to educate yourselves. In the meantime, if Palladone is approved for moderate pain and does in fact devastate this country as much as OxyContin has, I will remind you and every official in government that a whistleblower does not have to be an employee of a company – I am a mother who knows when something is very wrong with a drug company out of control – and I am a whistleblower. Her name was Jill Carol Skolek and she didn’t deserve to be prescribed OxyContin. Will one of your family members be prescribed Palladone and suffer a tragedy before the FDA is forced to weigh what OxyContin has done throughout this country before they give Purdue Pharma approval to market Palladone for moderate pain? Before Purdue Pharma begins a new campaign of abuse and diversion of
Palladone, please hold Purdue Pharma accountable now and also the FDA |