The conflicts of interest in the drug industry from todays NYT ....
OxyContin Maker Expected to Plead Guilty Today

By BARRY MEIER
Published: May 11, 2007
ABINGDON, Va., May 10 -The company that makes the narcotic painkiller
OxyContin and three current and former executives are expected to
plead 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, federal officials
said.........  from the same article ;
 " Initially, Purdue Pharma contended that OxyContin, because of its
time-release formulation, posed a lower threat of abuse and addiction
to patients than traditional, shorter-acting painkillers like
Percocet
or Vicodin. "    The article also states    "Purdue Pharma heavily
promoted OxyContin to doctors like general practitioners who had
little training in the treatment of serious pain or in recognizing
signs of drug abuse in patients." as to why the article continues :
Federal officials said that internal Purdue Pharma documents show
that
company officials recognized even before the drug was marketed that
they would face stiff resistance from doctors concerned about the
potential of a high-powered narcotic like OxyContin to be abused by
patients or cause addiction.

As a result, company officials developed a fraudulent marketing
campaign designed to promote OxyContin as a time-released drug that
was less prone to such problems. :  Full article
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/11/business/11drug-web.html?ref=business