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Tag: Richard Sackler

  • John Oliver Takes On Sackler Family, Opioid Epidemic

    John Oliver Takes On Sackler Family, Opioid Epidemic

    “Last Week Tonight” tackled the opioid epidemic again—this time putting the spotlight on the Sackler family members who have reportedly played a role in it.

    John Oliver spotlighted the opioid epidemic for the second time on HBO’s Last Week Tonight. This time, the late-night host recruited the help of actors Michael Keaton, Bryan Cranston and more, to bring to life the 2015 deposition of former Purdue Pharma president Richard Sackler about the company’s marketing of OxyContin. 

    Oliver addressed the Sackler family members’ alleged role in the opioid epidemic, drawing from pages of legal documents that are being made public as more and more municipalities sue the giant drug manufacturer, most famous for marketing OxyContin. 

    He pointed out that the billionaire Sackler family, while donating to arts and research institutions around the world, has made an effort to stay out of the public eye. In fact, Oliver said, there are very few photos, let alone video footage, of Richard Sackler available in the public domain. 

    So, Oliver brought in actors to read the transcript of Sackler’s deposition in a 2015 case brought by the state of Kentucky. Purdue settled with the state on the condition that millions of pages of documents brought as evidence be destroyed, but the deposition was leaked and Last Week Tonight made the entire 140-page document available online. 

    The show also put together a website, The Sackler Gallery, to showcase the family’s role in the opioid crisis. On the website, actors Bryan Cranston, Michael Keaton, Richard Kind and Michael K. Williams give life to Richard Sackler’s testimony. 

    “The launch of OxyContin tablets will be followed by a blizzard of prescriptions that will bury the competition,” Williams says in one clip, repeating Sackler’s infamous proclamation. “The prescription blizzard will be so deep, dense and white.” The Sacklers have said that this comment was taken out of context.

    In another clip, the actors repeat Sackler’s proclamation that people who abused opioids were to blame for the epidemic. He referred to them as “criminals,” trying to shift the blame away from himself. 

    Oliver rightly noted that while Sackler seemed to take issue with these people’s excessive drug use, his company did nothing to curb suspicious drug sales that were earning the company billions. 

    “He is furious at the people who are part of the problem, but the people he’s angry at helped make him incredibly rich,” Oliver said. “You don’t see Adam Levine making a song condemning horny middle aged women because that would make him hypocritical.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Former Purdue Pharma Exec May Profit From Opioid Addiction Drug

    Former Purdue Pharma Exec May Profit From Opioid Addiction Drug

    Richard Sackler’s involvement with a new formulation of buprenorphine has drawn a wave of criticism. 

    A new formulation of buprenorphine, a medication used to treat opioid addiction, is due to hit the market—but some have taken issue with one of the inventors’ ties to Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin.

    Richard Sackler is listed as one of six inventors on a patent for a new formulation of buprenorphine issued in January, the Financial Times reported. Sackler is also the former chairman and president of Purdue Pharma, according to the Washington Post, and the son of Raymond Sackler, one of the company’s founders.

    Purdue Pharma is the target of more than 1,000 lawsuits from cities, states, counties and tribes across the United States. The pharmaceutical giant and maker of OxyContin is accused of exaggerating the benefits and downplaying the risk of the opioid painkiller, and fueling the national opioid addiction epidemic.

    “It’s reprehensible what Purdue Pharma has done to our public health,” says Luke Nasta, director of Camelot, a New York-based treatment center. The Sacklers “shouldn’t be allowed to peddle any more synthetic opiates—and that includes opioid substitutes.”

    According to the patent, unlike the tablet or film formulation that’s currently available, the new drug will come in a fast-dissolving wafer that is placed under the tongue.

    According to the inventors, the fast-dissolving formula will make it less likely for the drug to be abused and sold on the black market.

    Colorado recently added to the mounting lawsuits against Purdue Pharma—accusing the company of playing a “significant role in causing the opioid epidemic.”

    “Purdue’s habit-forming medications coupled with their reckless marketing have robbed children of their parents, families of their sons and daughters, and destroyed the lives of our friends, neighbors, and co-workers,” said state Attorney General Cynthia Coffman in a statement. “While no amount of money can bring back our loved ones, it can compensate for the enormous costs brought about by Purdue’s intentional misconduct.”

    Members of the otherwise little known Sackler family have come to light for their ties to Purdue Pharma.

    This past March, a group of about 50 people came together at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City to protest members of the Sackler family’s alleged involvement in perpetuating opioid abuse. Led by artist Nan Goldin, the protestors threw pill bottles marked “OxyContin” into the reflecting pool in the Sackler Wing of the museum, named for the family’s contributions to the museum.

    The family has donated millions of dollars to arts institutions like the Met over the years.

    View the original article at thefix.com