The story of Oxycontin is a tale of staggering greed, mendacity, and maleficence, one that spans decades. This tale is masterfully told in Patrick Keefe’s Empire of Pain.
Oxycontin was the sole product of Purdue Pharma, a spinoff of small company acquired by the Sackler brothers — Arthur, Raymond, and Mortimer — which subsequently morphed into an industry giant.
Wisely, Keefe begins at the beginning, with the story of Arthur, the eldest Sackler brother. Arthur died ten years before Oxycontin was introduced, but it was he who created a system that made drug wrecks like Oxycontin inevitable. This was not a man who wished to do well by doing good. Rather, this was a man obsessed with achieving a totalitarian level of control over drug information, with the seamless vertical integration of drug development, clinical trials, scientific journals, and marketing — all with Arthur Sackler pulling the strings from behind the scenes. Indeed, every play in the Oxycontin playbook could have been taken from Sackler’s campaign to market Pfizer’s blockbuster drugs Librium and Valium — the marketing of dangerous, highly addictive drugs for a dizzying variety of human woes (without any good data showing their effectiveness), the pious insistence that these drugs were not addictive, and — when this point was decisively refuted — the blaming and stigmatizing of addicts for their plight.
As the country was flooded with Oxycontin, and doctors were flooded with false and misleading information about the safety and effectiveness of Purdue Pharma’s blockbuster drug, overdose deaths skyrocketed. Meanwhile, the Sacklers purchased a veneer of respectability by donating millions of dollars to museums, art galleries, and universities — a small price to pay, given that the drug netted them billions. Even as the death toll mounted, the Sacklers stubbornly refused to diversify, preferring to treat the company as their private ATM.
Purdue Pharma declared bankruptcy in September of 2021, but by then the company was little more than an empty shell — the Sacklers had already drained the company coffers dry, and the bankruptcy settlement guaranteed they will keep almost all of the billions they siphoned off. Fines to the Sacklers and their ilk are as seizures are to the cocaine lords — part of the cost of doing business.
This book makes for gripping reading, but even more importantly it highlights the need for criminal prosecution for drug company execs who flout the law. Nothing else will do.
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Reviews with images
Great book but pages came bent
Love the book but the pages in one corner came bent up. I’m having it lay flat for a while to try to fix it.
Top reviews from other countries
Orlando Cucolo Jr
Engaging read, a truly 5-star book!
Reviewed in Brazil on January 27, 2024ellen roseman
An indictment of the capitalist system
Reviewed in Canada on February 28, 2022
