As lawsuits began to build against Purdue Frederick, the Sackler family sought to insulate themselves both financially and publicly from the drug. In 2010, the company discontinued their initial version of the drug and made a version that was impossible to crush this led to a 25% drop in sales and a rise in heroin which was arguably caused by opioid abuse. Their new drug was an immediate success, but almost equally quickly, users began to abuse the drug. After Mortimer and Raymond joined the board at Purdue Frederick, the family began to roll out a sales force to sell Oxycodone using techniques pioneered by Arthur in order to influence politicians, government officials and doctors into endorsing the pill. Mortimer and Raymond Sackler invested in research into opioids with their investment in research eventually leading to Oxycodone. When the fight to split the assets devolved into acrimony, his children agreed to sell their shares in Purdue Frederick, a small drug manufacturer, to their uncles Mortimer and Raymond. The brothers eventually grew estranged when Arthur died in 1987, his complicated legacy was left to multiple heirs including his brothers, his wife, his ex-wife, and his four children.

As Arthur continued to amass his fortune, he and his younger brothers begin to make important philanthropic contributions, donating money to museums and for scholarships. Despite having many conflicts of interest, Arthur was able to keep these associations hidden by leaving his brothers, friends, and ex-wife as figureheads for various companies. All three brothers became medical doctors, but the eldest, Arthur, showed a particular talent for advertising, combining both his passions by joining and later owning William Douglas McAdams Inc., an advertising firm that exclusively handled medicinal clients and pioneered the technique of advertising medication directly to doctors. Summary Īrthur, Mortimer, and Raymond Sackler were children of Jewish immigrants that were raised in Brooklyn. The book followed Keefe's 2017 article on the Sackler family in The New Yorker, titled The Family That Built an Empire of Pain.

The book examines the history of the Sackler family, including the founding of Purdue Pharma, their role in the marketing of pharmaceuticals, and the family's central role in the opioid epidemic. Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty is a 2021 book by Patrick Radden Keefe.

Book on the sackler family