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Empire of pain, the secret history of the Sackler dynasty, [written and] read by Patrick Radden Keefe

eng

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biography

Empire of pain

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[written and] read by Patrick Radden Keefe

the secret history of the Sackler dynasty

The Sackler name adorns the walls of many storied institutions - Harvard, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Oxford, the Louvre. They are one of the richest families in the world, known for their lavish donations. The source of the family fortune was vague, however, until it emerged that the Sacklers were responsible for making and marketing a blockbuster painkiller that was a catalyst for the opioid crisis. Empire of Pain begins with the story of three doctor brothers, Raymond, Mortimer, and the incalculably energetic Arthur, who weathered the poverty of the Great Depression and appalling anti-Semitism. Working at a mental institution, Arthur conducted groundbreaking research into drug treatments. HE also had a genius for marketing, especially for pharmaceuticals. Arthur devised the marketing for Valium, and built the first great Sackler fortune. He purchased a drug manufacturer, which would be run by Raymond and Mortimer. The brothers began collecting art, and wives, and residences in exotic locales. Forty years later, Raymond's son Richard ran the family-owned Purdue. The template Arthur Sackler created to sell Valium - co-opting doctors influencing the FDA, downplaying the drug's addictiveness - was employed to launch a far more potent product: OxyContin. The drug went on to generate some thirty-five billion dollars in revenue, and to launch a public health crisis in which hundreds of thousands would die

adult

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