HACKENSACK, N.J. (AP) _ Two employees of the company that manufactures the prescription painkiller OxyContin have been accused of possessing the drug with the intent to distribute it.
Kevin Payne, 30, and Wayne Bullock, 35, were arrested June 28. Both men work for PF Laboratories, the Totowa-based manufacturing arm of Purdue Pharma, which developed the drug.
Prosecutors would not say what type of work the two did for the company.
OxyContin, a synthetic morphine often used to ease severe pain in terminally ill cancer patients, is growing in popularity among drug users. OxContin has been linked to at least 120 overdose deaths nationwide.
Jim Heins, a spokesman for Stamford, Conn.-based Purdue Pharma, had no comment on the arrests.
Prosecutor Salvatore Bellomo said Payne had less than half an ounce of the drug and Bullock had more than half an ounce. The prosecutor would not say how many pills that was.
A call to Payne's home in Paterson on Friday was not immediately returned. Bullock's home number is unlisted.
(Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
APTV 07-06-01 1445MDT
