More problems at Purdue Pharma

Purdue Pharma L.P., who lost patent protection on OxyContin, has suspended the sale of one of its other pain medications (Palladone) at the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA determined that the risk of patients potentially drinking alcohol while on Palladone capsules, a pain medication launched by Purdue on a limited basis in February, could not be adequately managed with product warnings.

Purdue spokesman James Heins said: "We hope those employees would have acknowledged that we communicated openly and consistently with them throughout to update them on the state of our company. We didn't expect to have the patent deemed unenforceable. That was an unanticipated action. We disagree with the appeals court's ruling. And Palladone, too, was unanticipated action."

Speaking of employee terminations, he noted: "The cuts were tremendously painful for everyone, especially for the managers who had to carry them out. They had to say goodbye to a lot of fantastic talented people and it was tough." The company recently cut 290 of 720 positions in Stamford and is in the process of closing an Ardsley, N.Y., facility where it will layoff 119 of the 150 workers and move the rest to other offices.