The story of the Sackler family is one of immense wealth, pharmaceutical influence, and deep controversy. Their involvement in the medical industry dates back to early 20th-century Brooklyn, where three brothers—Arthur, Mortimer, and Raymond Sackler—were born to Ukrainian and Polish immigrants. All three pursued careers in medicine and psychiatry, but Arthur’s work in pharmaceutical marketing would ultimately reshape the industry and pave the way for one of the most infamous drug epidemics in U.S. history.
The Rise of Purdue Pharma
Arthur Sackler’s early work in pharmaceutical advertising transformed drug marketing. He helped turn Pfizer into a major medicines company and played a crucial role in making Valium the first $100 million-selling drug in the 1960s. His expertise in direct marketing to doctors and his ownership of The Medical Tribune, a widely read publication among physicians, allowed him to promote drugs more aggressively than ever before.
In the 1950s, Arthur and his brothers acquired Purdue Pharmaceuticals, a small company that would later revolutionize pain management. Their first major success came with MS Contin, a slow-release morphine initially marketed for cancer patients. However, the Sacklers saw a larger market: millions of Americans suffering from chronic pain.
With MS Contin’s patent expiring in the late 1980s, Purdue needed a new product. The result was OxyContin, a powerful opioid-based painkiller introduced in 1996. The company claimed its time-release formula reduced addiction risks, a key factor in securing FDA approval—despite a lack of clinical testing to support the claim.
Marketing and the Opioid Crisis
Purdue aggressively marketed OxyContin to doctors, leveraging the FDA’s approval to suggest it had a lower risk of addiction than other opioids. Sales representatives were financially incentivized to push prescriptions, and doctors were encouraged to prescribe higher doses.
Purdue’s approach proved wildly successful. By 2010, opioid prescriptions had skyrocketed from 8 million in 1996 to 89 million. OxyContin alone generated $2.8 billion in revenue within five years of its launch.
However, reports of abuse, overdoses, and addiction surfaced early. Some users discovered that by crushing or chewing the pills, they could bypass the slow-release mechanism, experiencing an intense high. Purdue was aware of this issue long before 2000, as internal emails later revealed. Sales representatives reported pharmacy break-ins and rising overdose deaths, but the company continued its aggressive marketing.
Legal Battles and Fallout
By 2007, Purdue faced its first major legal reckoning, admitting to misleading marketing practices but continuing to sell OxyContin. Lawsuits and investigations uncovered deep ties between Purdue and regulators, including Curtis Wright, the FDA official who approved OxyContin and later took a job at Purdue.
Despite legal challenges, OxyContin remained a blockbuster drug, generating an estimated $35 billion for Purdue by 2017. The Sackler family personally profited between $11-13 billion, while opioid-related deaths exceeded 700,000 in the U.S..
Reputation and Legacy
The Sacklers donated millions to prestigious institutions like the Guggenheim, the Met, Yale, and Harvard, with their name appearing on museum wings and university buildings. Critics argue this was “reputation laundering”, an attempt to distance themselves from Purdue’s role in the opioid crisis.
In 2023, Purdue agreed to a multi-billion-dollar settlement, but the Sacklers did not admit wrongdoing and remain legally vulnerable to further lawsuits. As America grapples with the long-term consequences of opioid addiction, the Sackler name remains a symbol of both philanthropy and one of the deadliest drug epidemics in history.
