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Patricia Mehrmann
The Sackler family are the owners of Purdue Pharma, the company that created OxyContin and which author Beth Macy calls “The Company That Addicted America.” Purdue was an obscure pharmaceutical company when it was founded in 1892. The Sackler family (brothers Mortimer, Raymond, and Arthur) took it over in 1952, and it was later owned by their descendants. They gradually grew the company, first getting into painkillers in the 1980s, then releasing the massively popular OxyContin in the mid-1990s. Despite widespread evidence that OxyContin causes addiction (as well as historical precedent about addiction from other opioids), the Sacklers try to cover this up, with the help of Purdue executives and aggressive lawyers, including Dr. J. David Haddox and Howard Udell. Despite their pivotal role in creating the opioid crisis, the Sacklers generally avoid having to face any consequences for it and remain wealthy.
The Sackler Family (Mortimer, Raymond, and Arthur) Quotes in Dopesick
The Dopesick quotes below are all either spoken by The Sackler Family (Mortimer, Raymond, and Arthur) or refer to The Sackler Family (Mortimer, Raymond, and Arthur). For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 4 Quotes
Conspicuously absent from the courthouse drama was the family that owned the company and its 214 affiliates worldwide- and benefited the most from the drug’s sale. Purdue had earned over $2.8 billion from the drug by 2007, including $595 million in earnings in 2006 alone. Unlike a public company that answers to shareholders, privately held Purdue answered only to the Sacklers.
In 2015, the family would earn its way onto Forbes’s “America’s Richest Families” list. With an estimated net worth of $14 billion, the OxyContin clan would edge out such storied families as the Busches, Mellons, and Rockefellers. Having gone from selling earwax remover and laxatives to the most lucrative drug in the world, the family had museum wings and college institutes named for it from Boston to Tel Aviv.
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The passage describes the moment after the federal court case against Purdue, when the company accepts a plea bargain. Although this is the first court victory that activists have secured over the powerful pharmaceutical company, the success is offset by the comparatively mild repercussions of the court case. Arguably, the people who have benefited most from the opioid crisis are the Sackler family (the family who owns Purdue Pharma). Despite their prominent role in creating the health crisis, however, they are largely spared any sort of punishment for their actions, instead sending out executives like Paul Goldenheim, Michael Friedman, and Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitati
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The Sackler Family (Mortimer, Raymond, and Arthur) Character Timeline in Dopesick
The timeline below shows where the character The Sackler Family (Mortimer, Raymond, and Arthur) appears in Dopesick. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
...pharmaceutical company called Purdue Frederick, from Connecticut. The company is currently owned by three brothers: Mortimer, Raymond, and Arthur Sackler. They slowly grew the company, first getting into the painkiller business...
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Chapter 3
...they represent a mixed success against the company, particularly compared to earlier lawsuit outcomes. The Sacklers realize that a plea deal is preferable to holding a trial in southwest Virginia, which...
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Chapter 4
The Sackler family themselves are notably absent from the courtroom proceedings. In 2015, the Sacklers will be...
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Chapter 12
...lines about how pain is the real problem, and the only recent consequence for the Sacklers is that they have fallen from 16th to 19th on a Forbes list of the...
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