via CBSNEWS:
The Sackler family name is attached to universities and prestigious institutions around the world, from New York City to London to Beijing, but what you don’t often find the name publicly tied to is the pharmaceutical company the family built – Purdue Pharma – and the deadly opioid crisis, which some family members are now accused of creating.
It’s an epidemic we’ve covered from just about every side – from overdoses and recovery to the Drug Enforcement Administration trying to control abuse or a former Purdue pharmaceutical sales rep who fears she may have added to the problem.
But now the attorney general of Massachusetts has shifted attention to something new, alleging eight members of the Sackler family “caused much of the opioid epidemic” by controlling a “deceptive sales campaign” for their blockbuster drug OxyContin. The company calls it a “rush to vilify,” claiming the attorney general “cherry-picked” from among millions of documents. A hearing in the case is scheduled for Friday in Boston. But none of the family members named in the lawsuit have commented, reports CBS News correspondent Tony Dokoupil.“Their policy until now has been to be utterly silent, never make a comment about the opioid epidemic, and never acknowledge their connection,” said Christopher Glazek, who wrote an article on the Sacklers for Esquire magazine, researching the three brothers who developed the family business: Arthur, Mortimer, and Raymond.
“They were all very avid businessmen,” Glazek said. “They were all hell-bent on becoming super rich.”
Arthur first got rich as a marketer, Glazek said, turning a different company’s pill – Valium – into America’s top-selling drug.
h/t Ohio chic