Arthur Sackler Was Dead Long Before OxyContin Hit The Market
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Netflix’s Painkiller explores the ongoing U.S. opioid epidemic and the thousands of lives it has cost.
It's told through the lens of Purdue Pharma, a pharmaceutical company who pushed the highly addictive painkiller, OxyContin, out on the market despite knowing the risk this posed for consumers. Specifically, the series focuses in on the Sackler family, who owned and operated Purdue Pharma at the time. The company is one that is widely blamed for the continuing opioid crisis today.
Since 1999, the painkiller has wreaked havoc on entire communities, with opioid overdose deaths increasing 1,608 percent for females and 1,076 percent for males by 2021, according to the National Safety Council.
While viewers get to know then-President Richard Sackler during the six episode series, they're also introduced to a lesser-known Sackler family figure, Richard's uncle, Arthur Sackler. And thanks to his air time, lots of people are now curious to know who he was, and where he is now.
Here’s what you need to know about the eldest Sackler brother:
Is Painkiller based on a true story?
Painkiller is a fictionalized retelling of very real events, according to Netflix. The series is based off of two main sources—the 2003 book Pain Killer: An Empire of Deceit and the Origin of America’s Opioid Epidemic, by Barry Meier, which was updated in 2018, and the 2017 New Yorker profile on the Sackler family called, “The Family That Built an Empire of Pain." The article was later expanded into the 2021 book, Empire of Pain.
The people struggling with opioid substance use disorder in the series are fictionalized versions of thousands of unnamed victims, but the Sackler family characters are based on real people.
If you're tuning in, you'll probably see three original Sackler brothers show up on screen (Arthur, Mortimer and Raymond), and one second-generation Sackler, Richard, who was head of the company when it launched OxyContin.
Arthur appears in the series.
Arthur was the oldest Sackler brother, and one of the original family members involved in the early Purdue Pharma days, according to The Guardian. While he’s not a main character in the series, Arthur does show up on screen. But he appears only as a figment of his nephew Richard’s imagination. In the scene, Arthur comes to Richard and offers him advice and criticism.
Arthur originally trained as a physician before launching into pharmaceutical marketing, "emerge[ing from the Depression] as a respected psychiatrist and entrepreneur," per Insider and NPR.
NPR went on to explain that "part of his genius was seeing the fortune to be made by blurring the ethical lines between medicine, pharmaceuticals and marketing."
Some of these tactics included wining and dining physicians, with things like speaking engagements, fancy dinners and trips, the outlet reported. Arthur was credited for the marketing and sales techniques that made Valium a bestselling tranquilizer.
And while he was not involved in OxyContin sales (more on that in a minute), his marketing tactics served as a "template" for the company.
Arthur's children did not benefit from OxyContin sales.
Arthur's third wife, Jillian Sackler, said that she and Arthur’s children did not benefit from OxyContin sales, per The Guardian.
“I think he would not have approved of the widespread sale of OxyContin,” she said, adding that Purdue Pharma’s advertising was “misleading.”
Jillian also said that family members “have a moral duty to help make this right and to atone for any mistakes made” with the opioid crisis.
But, as mentioned, Arthur’s controversial marketing techniques were used by the company to sell their new painkiller. Esquire says that the company used tactics that included flashy graphics, free samples, and nice-looking advertisements in medical journals.
Where is Arthur Sackler now?
Arthur wasn't around when the company decided to start producing and selling OxyContin. He died in 1987 of a heart attack—about a decade before the drug was ever sold.
After his death, his estate sold his company stock options to his brothers, Mortimer and Raymond, for $22.4 million, The Guardian says. Mortimer and Raymond's descendants are worth a collective $13 billion now, according to Forbes.
For more details on the Sackler family and their involvement in Purdue Pharma, you can check out Painkiller, streaming now on Netflix.
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