Plaintiffs Withdraw Petition For OxyContin MDL

WASHINGTON - The plaintiffs withdrew their petition to consolidate and transfer twenty OxyContin-related injury cases for multidistrict litigation as oral arguments were scheduled to proceed on the matter before the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML), according to an order filed on June 17. In re: OxyContin Products Liability Litigation, MDL No 1526 (JPML).

The JPML ruled from the bench on May 29 to permit the motion to be withdrawn at the request of plaintiffs, the order stated.

Tim Bannon, Senior Director of Public Affairs for Purdue Pharma, stated that the company's in-house and outside counsel were preparing for oral …