Yesterday, the Sackler dynasty, owners of Purdue Pharma and makers of the powerful prescription painkiller, OxyContin, reached a landmark $6 billion agreement over its role in fueling the opioid epidemic that led to the deaths of more than 500,000 people.
The deal officially dissolves the multi-billion dollar behemoth Purdue Pharma L.P., and puts an end to an American dream turned toxic.
The money, which will be used to fund victim compensation and addiction treatment, notably frees the Sackler family from all future civil lawsuits but does not preclude them from criminal prosecution. Despite the hefty $6 billion settlement , the Sackler family will be able to maintain the bulk of their personal wealth that was moved to off-shore accounts before their Chapter 11 filing.
Yesterday’s ruling comes after a years-long battle that began in 2014 when the pharmaceutical giant faced mounting lawsuits from individual claimants, state, local and tribal governments.
As the nation reeled from a spiraling crisis of opioid abuse and overdoses, Purdue Pharma racked up over 2,900 lawsuits. Buried in litigation, the company filed for bankruptcy in August 2019 to relieve all outstanding claims.
Almost overnight, members of the Sackler family who were once lauded in philanthropic circles became the personification of deadly corporate greed.The former fixtures of New York’s high society, were suddenly persona non grata.
The ascent of the Sackler family is a remarkable rags to riches story that starts with the unlikely rise of three brothers from Brooklyn: Arthur, Mortimer and Raymond, the sons of Jewish grocers who emigrated from Eastern Europe.
Within their lifetimes, they amassed an enormous $13 billion fortune (more than the Rockefellers or the Mellons) and began collecting art, wives and houses around the world.Their children and grandchildren enjoyed a life of luxury, attended the finest schools, and became fixtures on the glitzy society circuit.
Using their OxyContin lucre, the Sacklers burnished their reputation through charity by donating lavishly to prestigious medical schools and world-class art galleries – this in turn drew fierce criticism from those who believed that the family was using their deep pockets to obscure the dark source of their wealth.Their loudest critic, the photographer Nan Goldin, said they ‘art-washed’ it with blood money.
There was a time when you couldn’t swing a cat without landing on a building barring the Sackler name: Harvard, Tufts, Columbia, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian, the Louvre, the Guggenheim, the Serpentine Gallery, the Tate, the American Museum of Natural History, NYU Langone Hospital, and dozens of scholarships, grants and endowments.
Their fall from grace began in 2014, when the Massachusetts and New York attorney generals implicated eight Sackler family members in the nation’s deadly opioid epidemic.In a lawsuit, the Sackler matriarchs, Theresa and Beverly Sackler were listed among their children, Kathe, Mortimer Jr, Richard, Jonathan and Ilene Sackler Lefcourt; and David Sackler, a grandson.
Amid a cascade of litigation all remaining Sacklers stepped down from the board of directors in April 2019.
The Sackler family, owners of Purdue Pharma, and makers of the highly-addictive pain killer, OxyContin agreed to a $6 billion settlement yesterday in bankruptcy court for their role in creating the opioid crisis that has resulted in 500,000 deaths.
Before they were dogged by controversy, the Sacklers were one of America’s most esteemed philanthropic dynasties, with a combined $13 billion fortune made in pharmaceuticals. Pictured above is some of the Sackler family: Dr Richard Sackler, standing second from left and Jonathan Sackler standing second from right.
Seated is Raymond and Beverly Sackler
The billion-dollar Sackler dynasty began with three Brooklyn-born brothers that attended medical school and purchased a small pharmaceutical company in 1952 called Purdue Frederick.
The name was later changed to Purdue Pharma in 1991. It was originally known mostly for producing laxatives and earwax removal. Within their lifetimes, the brothers amassed an enormous fortune and began collecting art, wives and houses around the world.
Their children and grandchildren enjoyed a life of luxury, attended the finest schools, and became fixtures on the glitzy society circuit. From left to right is Arthur Sackler, Mortimer Sackler and the youngest, Raymond Sackler
Another condition to the deal struck yesterday is that museums, universities and other institutions barring the Sackler name will be allowed to remove it from buildings and scholarships.The Sackler’s will be absolved all future civil lawsuits related to the opioid epidemic, but are not immune to criminal prosecution
THE SACKLER FAMILY: A RAGS TO RICHES STORY THAT STARTED WITH THREE BROTHERS FROM BROOKLYN
Born in Brooklyn during the Great Depression, all three brothers (who are now dead) went to medical school and became psychiatrists.They were especially fascinated by psychopharmacology as an alternative to other treatments like electroshock therapy for psychiatric disorders.
According to the New York Times, Raymond and Mortimer studied skin burns for the Atomic Energy Commission before they were fired for refusing to sign an oath promising to report colleagues having conversations that were considered ‘subversive.’
Arthur, the eldest, had a knack for marketing. He paid for his medical-school tuition by working at a small New York ad agency that specialized in the medical field. Possessing the unique skillset of a salesman, adman, and doctor made him a virtuoso in the business.Within a few years, Arthur bought the fledging agency and turned it into a powerhouse for pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer and Roche.
He revolutionized the industry by pioneering a new way of selling drugs that promoted the product to patients and doctors.More than anything, Arthur understood that physicians are heavily influenced by their peers, and thus crafted campaigns that directly appealed to medical personnel.
He got rich hawking Roche’s new tranquilizer, Valium, in the 1960s. One glossy for the pill depicted a woman surrounded by concerned doctors and family members because of her ‘psychic tension’, a 20th century term for what is now just considered stress.In part because of the success of Arthur’s campaign, Valium became the first drug in US history to top $100 million in sales.
During this time, he began to come under intense scrutiny for false advertising. One 1959 investigation conducted by The Saturday Review revealed that he had fabricated the names and identities of doctors who were used as references for the efficacy of a new Pfizer antibiotic.
His ad featured an assortment of doctors’ business cards next to the phrase: ‘More and more physicians find Sigmamycin the antibiotic therapy of choice.’ The only problem is that the names of the doctors and their telephone numbers did not exist.
Using Arthur’s ad money in 1952, the Sackler brothers bought Purdue Frederick – a little-known medicine company that mainly produced laxative and earwax remover out of the Greenwich Village.Raymond and Mortimer were co-chairmen while Arthur played a passive role.
In his 2003 book, the journalist Barry Meier, observed that Arthur treated his brothers ‘not as siblings but more like his progeny and understudies.’
The Sackler family fortune was spearheaded by three Brooklyn-born, doctors named Arthur, Mortimer and Raymond Sackler.
Arthur and Mortimer Sackler each married three times, and Raymond married once. There are 14 children in the second generation and even more grandchildren. Arthur Sackler’s family has never been involved in the OxyContin epidemic, as they sold their stake in Purdue Pharma to the other brothers after his death in 1987.
The eight Sackler family members who were implicated by the New York attorney general in a lawsuit were the widowed matriarchs Theresa and Beverly Sackler, and their children Kathe, Mortimer Jr, Richard, Jonathan and Ilene Sackler Lefcourt; and David Sackler, a grandson
Mortimer Sackler and his wife Dame Theresa were known as international philanthropists, and are pictured here in 2004 at the Cartier Dinner at the Chelsea Physic Garden. In 1999, Queen Elizabeth conferred an honorary knighthood on Mortimer Sackler in recognition of his philanthropy
Jonathan Sackler (left) who died of cancer in June 2020, aged 65, was the son of Raymond Sackler and a key executive of the company as it fueled the opioid epidemic Jonathan Sackler (left) who died of cancer in June 2020, aged 65, was the son of Raymond Sackler and a key executive of the company as it fueled the opioid epidemic.His older brother, Richard Sackler, 77 (right) was chairman and president of Purdue Pharma from 1999 to 2018. He joined the family business in 1971 and is often portrayed as a central villain to the opioid epidemic for playing a big part in the development and marketing of OxyContin
In the $6 billion settlement, Purdue Pharma would be dissolved and restructured as a new company called ‘Knoa Pharma’ that will develop and distribute overdose-reversal medicines and be run by independent board members (with no ties to the Sacklers).All profits will go toward addiction treatment and prevention programs
Arthur showed an early interest in collecting art. He and his first wife, Else started in the 1940s with contemporary artists like Marc Chagall before he focused on Asian art.By the end of his lifetime, Arthur had amassed a colossal collection that included ‘tens of thousands of works’ of Chinese, Indian, and Middle Eastern artifacts. He donated 1,000 pieces worth an estimated $50 million to the Smithsonian, along with $4 million to build a new gallery to house them.
According to the New Yorker, the art scholar Thomas Lawton once likened Arthur, to ‘a modern Medici.’
Purdue seduced doctors – particularly those who prescribed in high volumes – with friendly visits, free samples, gifts, paid lunches and trips to warm destinations.They also distributed OxyContin ‘swag’ including plush bears emblazoned with the drug’s logo, fishing hats, and even a dance CD titled ‘Swing Is Alive: Swing in the right direction with OxyContin’
The slow success of Purdue Frederick made the family wealthy enough to become active in the charity circuit.In 1974, the brothers donated $3.5 million (roughly $20 million in today’s money) to the construction of a new wing holding the Met’s crown jewel: the 2,000 year old Temple of Dendur, which was a gift from the Egyptian government.
Mortimer, who was always the flashiest of the three siblings, used the new Sackler Wing to host an extravagant birthday party that featured a cake with his face, designed after the Great Sphinx.
That same year, he renounced his American citizenship, ‘reportedly for tax reasons’ (according to the New Yorker) and jetsetted around Europe to his various homes in London, the Swiss Alps and Cap d’Antibes.
The youngest Sackler brother, Raymond, had stepped in to take care of the day to day operations at the company.He moved its headquarters to Stamford, Connecticut and changed its name to Purdue Pharma.
When Arthur died in 1987, the brothers purchased his share in the company from his heirs for $22.4 million, while pioneering its sister company, Napp Pharmaceuticals, in the United Kingdom.
It’s important to note that by the time OxyContin came to market in 1995, Arthur had already been dead seven years.
Since the opioid controversy, his descendants have actively fought to distance themselves from the other two branches of the family and they’ve been found ‘guilty by association.’ His grandson clarified to the New Yorker: ‘I have never owned shares in Purdue.
None of the descendants of Arthur M. Sackler have ever had anything to do with, or benefited from, the sale of OxyContin.’
However, Arthur’s legacy was his brilliance in marketing and the same strategies he pioneered for other pharmaceutical companies, became a template that was expanded upon by his brother’s and their heirs.
He mastered the art of the deal, maintained contacts with physicians, treated them to expensive dinners, lucrative speaker fees, lavish trips, and wooed them into writing more prescriptions for Pfizer and Roche branded drugs.
His widow, Jillian Sackler that blaming him for OxyContin’s predatory marketing campaign, ‘is as ludicrous as blaming the inventor of the mimeograph for email spam.’
Purdue Pharma came to market with their blockbuster drug, OxyContin in 1995.The pill is made from pure oxycodone, which is a synthetic cousin of heroin that is twice as powerful, and cheap to produce. The potency exceeded any prescription painkiller on the market. ‘In terms of narcotic firepower, OxyContin was a nuclear weapon,’ said the journalist Barry Meier
The youngest Sackler, Raymond, is pictured with his wife Beverly.Raymond was in control of Purdue Pharma after Arthur died, and in 1999, passed the reigns to his son Richard. The father-son duo were working at Purdue when the company began manufacturing OxyContin and using questionable advertising practices to promote it
After Arthur’s death, his branch of the Sackler family claim to have distanced themselves from the Purdue empire.His daughter Elizabeth Sackler has called Purdue Pharma’s role in the opioid crisis, ‘morally abhorrent’
Dr Kathe Sackler and her wife, Susan Shack Sackler (fourth and third from left, respectively) are well-known for their philanthropic efforts; Kathe is the second daughter of founding brother Mortimer and was also listed as a Napp director as of December 2016
The middle Sackler brother Mortimer is pictured with his wife Theresa, right, and daughter Marissa, left, at the 2003 Stella Artois Tennis Championships at the Queens Club in London. After Arthur Sackler died in 1987, Mortimer and his younger brother Raymond bought his portion of Purdue Pharma for $22.4 million
When Arthur died, Raymond and his brother Mortimer purchased Arthur’s share of Purdue Pharma for $22.4 million while pioneering its sister company, Napp Pharmaceuticals, in the United Kingdom.Napp Pharma headquarters in Cambridge, England are pictured here
THE DEVELOPMENT OF OXYCONTIN AND A MARKETING BLITZ:
Purdue’s first juggernaut was a painkiller called MS Contin (short for ‘continuous’), the morphine pill had a patented time release formula.But with the patent expiration date looming, the Sacklers began developing another drug to replace it in order to avoid generic competition.
Dr Andrew Kolodny, an addiction expert and Co-Director of Opioid Policy Research at Brandeis University, previously told DailyMail.com: ‘MS Contin was coming off patent, and that product had only really been prescribed to people with cancer at the end of life.’
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