Members of the Sackler family–the wealthy owners behind Purdue Pharma and OxyContin—paid upwards of $19 million in donations to The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, a powerful institution that advises U.S. opioid policy, according to a bombshell report by The New York Times.

The Times outlined a series of events that pose a possible conflict of interest. Dr. Raymond Sackler, his wife, Beverly, and the couple’s foundation started donating large sums of money to the Academies in 2008, according to treasurer reports. They died in 2017 and 2019, respectively. Dame Jillian Sackler also made millions of dollars’ worth of donations to the Academies beginning in 2000. The Academies invested the funds, growing to over $31 million by the end of 2021.

The allegations continue: The Pain Care Forum, a group co-founded by Burt Rosen, the Purdue lobbyist at the time, pushed for legislation introduced in 2007 and 2009 that included plans calling for an Academies report to “increase the recognition of pain as a significant public health problem.”

If the allegations are true, they present a serious conflict of interest. So the Times called upon Michael Rehn Von Korff—a medical researcher who studies the treatment of chronic pain, among other fields, for insight on the matter.

“I didn’t know they were taking private money,” Von Korff told The New York Times. “It sounds like insanity to take money from principals of drug companies and then do reports related to opioids. I am really shocked.”

Last Prisoner Project founder Steve DeAngelo posted the report on Instagram and called the revelations “disgusting.” Medical cannabis is frequently used as an alternative to opioids for some situations.

The Role of OxyContin in the Opioid Crisis

OxyContin was developed and patented in 1996 by Purdue Pharma L.P. and was originally available in multiple doses, the U.S. Department of Justice notes. At first, it appeared that OxyContin revolutionized medicine, but then the opioid epidemic unfolded. 

According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, (HHS) over 760,000 people have died since 1999 from a drug overdose, with nearly 75% of drug overdose deaths in 2020 involving an opioid. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the number of drug overdose deaths “quintupled since 1999.”

A 2011 The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine report claims that 100 million Americans suffered from chronic pain—one-third of the entire U.S. population—and while that’s often cited by government organizations, now that number is being challenged as preposterous. That report influenced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to approve at least one powerful opioid, Zohydro, which is a slow release hydrocodone.

In 2016, just months after the National Academies scooped up a $10 million Sackler family donation, the F.D.A. asked the institution to form a committee to create new recommendations on opioids. But the Academies were blamed for having sketchy ties to opioid makers, including Purdue Pharma. Four people were removed from the panel after that incident.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine was created by Abraham Lincoln, and U.S. laws are shaped by the data it releases. For the past few decades though, the academy was utilized to combat the American opioid crisis.

The opioid crisis is complex and it’s difficult to distinguish between people who are addicted and people who genuinely have high levels of pain. But the overdose death toll is impossible to ignore as it surpasses death toll numbers from war and sickness. In 2017, the HHS declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency.

There is also another side to the story. Megan Lowry from the National Academies told The New York Times that the Sackler donations “were never used to support any advisory activities on the use of opioids or on efforts to counter the opioid crisis,” and that they are prevented from returning the Sackler donations because of legal restrictions.

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Big pharma’s moment of reckoning for roles in the opioid crisis began to unravel recently. On November 24, 2020, opioid maker Purdue Pharma LP pleaded guilty to fraud and kickback conspiracies amid a flurry of litigation over its role in the opioid epidemic. Purdue Pharma pitched a massive bankruptcy settlement to essentially make the bulk of litigation go away.

But a federal judge tossed out OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy settlement on December 16—including thousands of individual lawsuits—because of one particular, pricey provision that would have shielded members of the Sackler family from facing lawsuits of their own.

The Rise of Opioid Drugs

The Sackler family’s company Purdue Pharma unveiled OxyContin® 25 years ago, before more powerful opioids started popping up everywhere, including on the street. Documents made public in 2020 show how Purdue Pharma actively pushed to get higher numbers of prescriptions for painkillers. This happened before America hit a “record high” of drug overdoses during the pandemic last year, crowning decades of addiction, caused largely by people who are introduced to drugs through opioids.

While a New York bankruptcy court initially approved the bankruptcy settlement, it was quickly struck down. U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon said in a written opinion on Thursday the New York bankruptcy court that approved the settlement did not have authority to grant the Sacklers immunity from future opioid litigation.

The Sackler Family—accused of fueling the opioid epidemic through doctor perks and more—insisted on installing legal shields, or nondebtor releases, in exchange for a $4.5 billion cash payout to resolve opioid litigation. Nondebtor releases protect parties that have not filed for bankruptcy themselves.

Under the scrapped deal, members of the Sackler family would give up ownership of the company—which would continue to sell opioids—but redirect profits to “fight the opioid crisis.” Under the deal, Purdue Pharma would also develop more novel anti-addiction and anti-overdose drugs and provide them at “little or no cost.”

Per the deal, the Sackler family members would fork up $4.5 billion in cash, USA Today reports, and charitable assets as part of larger deal that could hit $10 billion, which includes the future value of the new anti-addiction drugs, if they pan out. In other words, Purdue Pharma would continue to cash out on both ends of opioid addiction. Even WebMD saw an ethical problem with Purdue making buprenorphine wafers to solve addiction caused by the same company, in a 2018 analysis.

An Appeal is in Order

Purdue said it would appeal the decision in a statement published Friday.

“While the district court decision does not affect Purdue’s rock-solid operational stability or its ability to produce its many medications safely and effectively, it will delay, and perhaps end, the ability of creditors, communities, and individuals to receive billions in value to abate the opioid crisis,” said Steve Miller, Chairman of the Purdue Pharma LP Board of Directors. “These funds are needed now more than ever as overdose rates hit record-highs, and we are confident that we can successfully appeal this decision and deliver desperately needed funds to the communities and individuals suffering in the midst of this crisis.”

The Sackler saga was even turned into a live action series, Hulu’s Dopesick—which asks hard-hitting questions such as whether or not Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family are truly responsible for their roles in the opioid crisis.

The Associated Press reports that Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, who slammed the $4.5 billion deal, called the ruling “a seismic victory for justice and accountability.” He also said the judgement will “re-open the deeply flawed Purdue bankruptcy and force the Sackler family to confront the pain and devastation they have caused.”

In 2021, the opioid crisis is worse than ever before. It’s important to keep in mind that people living in high pain still need access to opioids, and often get confused with addicts.

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