In this pieceĀ forĀ Esquire, Christopher Glazek profiles the Sacklers, the family that owns the pharmaceutical company that manufactures OxyContin. He investigates how the Sacklers’ marketing strategies have led to America’s current opioid epidemic.
“To the extent that the Sacklers have cultivated a reputation, itās for being earnest healers, judicious stewards of scientific progress, and connoisseurs of old and beautiful things. Few are aware that during the crucial period of OxyContinās development and promotion, Sackler family members actively led Purdueās day-to-day affairs, filling the majority of its board slots and supplying top executives. By any assessment, the familyās leaders have pulled off three of the great marketing triumphs of the modern era: The first is selling OxyContin; the second is promoting the Sackler name; and the third is ensuring that, as far as the public is aware, the first and the second have nothing to do with one another.”
