How the Sackler Family Launched the Opioid Crisis: An Exploration of Purdue Pharma and the Sackler Reputation
It’s a family history most are not familiar with: through a company passed down over generations, the Sackler family developed the prescription painkiller OxyContin, which is widely considered to have ignited the opioid crisis. The Sacklers, one of the richest families in America, are best known for their philanthropic contributions to museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Louvre, highly respected educational institutions including Harvard and Yale, and endowments of countless professorships and research endeavors.
However, the family that has been described as the “modern Medicis” has tried desperately to cover up how its pharmaceutical company, Purdue Pharma, used aggressive marketing to push the launch of OxyContin in 1996 and contributed extensively to the unprecedented opioid epidemic that the United States is facing today. The connection between the Sacklers and the opioid epidemic began in 1953, when brothers Arthur, Mortimer, and Raymond Sackler purchased Purdue Frederick Company and then transformed it into Purdue Pharma. Detailed in a 2017 article from the New Yorker entitled “The Family That Built An Empire of Pain,” the Sackler family then profited excessively off sales of OxyContin, with estimates of $12 or $13 billion being transferred from Purdue Pharma to members of the family. However, continued denials of such allegations have left the public with a positive image of this abhorrent family.
A Facade of Philanthropy
It is incredibly ironic that the Sackler family is recognized by most of the world for the billions they have donated when the drug they created has ruined millions of lives. Though lawsuits against Purdue began building in 2017, the members of the Sackler family have maintained their image as benefactors of the arts and sciences.
It was only in July 2019 that the Sacklers began seeing “effects” of their wrongdoings through Purdue Pharma: the Louvre removed a plaque acknowledging the Sacklers’ donations to its collection of Persian and Levantine artifacts from the wing known as the Sackler Wing of Oriental Antiques. Other signs in the museum that referenced the “Sackler Wing” were covered in tape.
The National Portrait Gallery in Britain also turned down a $1.3 million donation from the family in March 2019, prompting a number of other institutions, including the Tate museums and Guggenheim Museum to announce that they would no longer accept donations from the family. However, the Louvre is the only cultural institution to remove spaces specifically dedicated to the Sackler family.
It is significant that the Sackler family continues to retain its reputation and fortune, despite the increasing attention that the opioid epidemic has been receiving in recent years. Well-known academic institutions have kept their connections to the Sackler family through donations, the largest of which have gone to Yale University, Imperial College London, and the University of Sussex. The Associated Press also found that the University of Oxford, Cornell University, and Columbia University have also received significant donations from foundations controlled by members of the Sackler Family.
Dr. Andrew Kolodny, the Co-Director of Opioid Policy Research at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University, and a leading critic against the Sackler family, said that “money from the Sacklers should be understood as blood money.” Though he called for universities who have taken donations from the Sacklers to return them, there has been no sign that the institutions listed above will be taking any action to do so.
The Current State of the Sacklers
In September of 2019, Purdue Pharma filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a move that many considered an effort to protect the company, and specifically the Sackler family, from a plethora of federal and state lawsuits it was facing. The filing removed the company from litigation in Cleveland involving about 2,600 local governments, Native American tribes, unions, and hospitals.
The New York attorney general’s office also revealed on September 13, 2019 that it had traced around one billion dollars in wire transfers by the Sackler family from Purdue Pharma to themselves through Swiss bank accounts. This attempt to shield the family from financial loss in the midst of the opioid crisis highlighted the mindset of the Sacklers and their focus on personal economic gain.
Purdue Pharma then announced in mid-September that it had reached a tentative agreement with 24 states, three US territories, and thousands of local governments for a settlement by making an offer of $10 to $20 billion. This settlement would allow Purdue to resolve most of its lawsuits and include a plan to restructure after filing for bankruptcy and see the Sackler family exit the company. The Sacklers would be responsible for contributing at least $3 billion over the next few years, a number that could rise depending on how much of the settlement Purdue is able to cover.
However, dissent came from both state and local governments, and in October, the state of Arizona withdrew its support for the proposed settlement. Arizona Attorney General Brnovich stated that Purdue and the Sackler family needed to “take responsibility” for their role in the opioid crisis. With this additional disagreement from Arizona, 25 states are now in opposition to the settlement Purdue proposed. Many of these states, along with cities and Native American tribes, have contentions with the estimated value of the settlement that Purdue provided, believing that Purdue and the Sacklers should contribute more in order to make a more credible attempt at repaying the damage they have caused to countless communities in the US.
Moving Forward for Purdue Pharma
Though Purdue may try to downplay the huge impact of its role in the opioid crisis and how the company has fueled the epidemic, a ProPublica analysis of government data found that Purdue has had a much bigger impact on the crisis than it has attempted to depict. A recent story written in collaboration between STAT and ProPublica found that Purdue Pharma’s market share of prescription opioid pills in the US is far greater when accounting for the amount of potency of opioid in the pills.
While Purdue has touted the figure of 3.3 percent as the prescription opioid pill market share they possessed in the US from 2006 to 2012, ProPublica’s study shows that the company’s actual market share, when accounting for the variation in strengths of prescription painkillers, rises to 16 percent.
Especially considering the pending finalization of the settlement, which would result in the dissolution of Purdue and the creation of a new company in its place to continue the production and sales of OxyContin, it is important that more people are made aware of the atrocities the Sackler family has committed. The opposition of half of US states to the proposed settlement plays a key part in trying to ensure that the Sacklers will be brought to proper justice, and through continued efforts to force genuine retribution, the millions of lives OxyContin has ruined may see a glimpse of justice.
Sources
Hoffman, Jan, and Mary Williams Walsh. “Purdue Pharma, Maker of OxyContin, Files for Bankruptcy.” The New York Times, Sept. 16, 2019. Oct., 2019. www.nytimes.com/2019/09/15/health/purdue-pharma-bankruptcy-opioids-settlement.html.
Ernsthausen, Jeff, and David Armstrong. “Purdue Touts Data to Fight Lawsuits That Downplay Role in Opioid Crisis.” STAT., Sept. 9, 2019. Oct., 2019. www.statnews.com/2019/09/09/purdue-pharma-data-downplay-its-role-in-opioid-epidemic/.
Keefe, Patrick Radden. “The Family That Built an Empire of Pain.” The New Yorker. July 9, 2019. Oct., 2019. www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/30/the-family-that-built-an-empire-of-pain.
Walters, Joanna. “Meet the Sacklers: the Family Feuding over Blame for the Opioid Crisis.” The Guardian. Feb. 13, 2018. Oct., 2019. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/feb/13/meet-the-sacklers-the-family-feuding-over-blame-for-the-opioid-crisis.
Randazzo, Sara, and Jared S. Hopkins. “Purdue Pharma Reaches Deal With Cities, 23 States Over Opioid Crisis.” The Wall Street Journal, Sept. 11 2019. Oct., 2019. www.wsj.com/articles/purdue-pharma-close-to-settlement-with-cities-and-half-of-states-over-opioid-crisis-11568224310?mod=article_inline.
Hals, Tom. “Cracks in Purdue's Proposed Opioid Settlement as Arizona Backs Out.” Reuters. Oct. 8, 2019, Oct., 2019. www.reuters.com/article/us-purdue-pharma-bankruptcy/cracks-in-purdues-proposed-opioid-settlement-as-arizona-backs-out-idUSKBN1WN1YE.
Hopkins, Jared S., and Andrew Scurria. “Sacklers Received as Much as $13 Billion in Profits From Purdue Pharma.” The Wall Street Journal, Oct. 5, 2019, Oct., 2019. www.wsj.com/articles/sacklers-received-12-billion-to-13-billion-in-profits-from-oxycontin-maker-purdue-pharma-11570221797.
Hakim, Danny. “New York Uncovers $1 Billion in Sackler Family Wire Transfers.” The New York Times. Sept. 13, 2019, Oct., 2019. www.nytimes.com/2019/09/13/health/sacklers-purdue-opioids.html.
Press, Associated. “Top Universities in US and UK Took Millions from Sackler Family.” The Guardian. Oct. 4, 2019, Oct., 2019. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/oct/04/universities-sackler-family-donations-opioids.
Marshall, Alex. “Louvre Removes Sackler Family Name From Its Walls.” The New York Times. July 17. 2019, Oct., 2019. www.nytimes.com/2019/07/17/arts/design/sackler-family-louvre.html.