Lawsuit: Sackler Family Pushed Efforts to Mislead Public About Dangers of OxyContin

By the Editors

The family that owns Purdue Pharma spearheaded the company's efforts to mislead patients and clinicians about OxyContin's addiction potential, according to a court filing from the Massachusetts attorney general.

At a launch party for the drug, Richard Sackler, the company's president from 1999 to 2003, said that "the launch of OxyContin tablets will be followed by a blizzard of prescriptions that will bury the competition. The prescription blizzard will be so deep, dense, and white," according to court documents cited by the media. The drug went on to bring in over $1 billion in annual sales.

The company pushed the drug to clinicians who prescribed the most opioids, some of whom later lost their licenses.

The suit also says that Sackler blamed the abuse of OxyContin on addicts.

Eight members of the Sackler family are named in the suit.