Dr. Curtis Wright Took A Job At Purdue Pharma After OxyContin's Approval
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The breakout Netflix drama series, Painkiller, looks at the opioid epidemic from lots of different angles.
Viewers watch as execs at Purdue Pharma, a pharma company founded by the Sackler family, push OxyContin into production despite knowing about how highly addictive it is. The series also looks at how the company's salespeople heavily promoted the drug, which would go on to destroy hundreds of thousands of lives.
Between 1999 and 2019, prescription opioid overdose deaths quadrupled in the US, with roughly 247,000 deaths recorded in the 20-year period, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Purdue Pharma is one of the companies that is widely blamed for the ongoing epidemic, thanks to its aggressive sales tactics related to the addictive painkiller.
While the series introduces viewers to the Sackler family and fictionalized victims struggling with substance use disorder, it also touches on the story of a man named Dr. Curtis Wright, who was involved in the approval of OxyContin for sale in the US.
But who is Dr. Curtis Wright, and where is he now? Here’s what you need to know:
Is Painkiller based on a true story?
Mostly. Painkiller is based on the real Sackler family and Purdue Pharma's sale of OxyContin, but the show took some liberties. And the stories of "real people" struggling with addiction that are shown throughout the six episodes are actually based on thousands of people's experiences, rather than just one singular person.
At its core, the series is a fictionalized retelling of true events, according to Netflix, and it’s based off of two main sources—the 2003 book Pain Killer by Barry Meier, which was updated in 2018, and the 2017 New Yorker profile on the Sackler family, “The Family That Built an Empire of Pain."
Is Curtis Wright a real person?
Yes, Curtis Wright is a real person. He was the team medical review officer for the Food and Drug Administration in 1995, when Purdue Pharma was trying to get OxyContin approved to treat “moderate to severe pain,” per the Clarion Ledger.
In the series, Wright's character is played by actor Noah Harpster, who is also one of the showrunners along with Micah Fitzerman-Blue.
How was he involved in Purdue Pharma?
Wright was the sole FDA examiner who was charged with overseeing the approval process for OxyContin, per Time. In 1995, he signed off on a drug application that stated that “delayed absorption, as provided by OxyContin tablets, is believed to reduce the abuse liability of the drug,” per Time. But there was no scientific data to back this up.
There is a lot of controversy surrounding Wright and his role in the sales of OxyContin. Roughly a year after the drug was approved, Wright left the FDA and went to work for a pharmaceutical company called Adolor, and then for Purdue. He began his new role in 1998, as executive director of medical research for the company.
A book, Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe, claimed that Wright received a first-year compensation package of $400,000 at Purdue Pharma, per Insider.
But in a 2018 court deposition, Wright explained his decision: "I had been passed over for division director for the third or fourth time, and it was becoming clear to me that I would— that I was—it would be a long time before I was promoted or had any additional responsibilities, and an extremely attractive offer came in from a pharmaceutical firm to be their chief medical officer, and I accepted."
Wright also claimed he never had conversations about joining Purdue Pharma while working at the FDA.
Purdue Pharma has faced massive legal challenges related to OxyContin sales, and Wright has had to make several depositions in court. In 2003, Wright was subpoenaed as part of a court case in Mississippi, Terri Lynn Poston v. Purdue Pharma, and gave a 7.5-hour deposition. He gave another eight-hour deposition in a National Prescription Opiate Litigation class-action lawsuit in 2018 despite not being a current employee at the company.
He is depicted in Dopesick.
This isn't the first show to look at Wright's role in getting the addictive opioid out on the market. The Hulu series Dopesick also looks into the impact of OxyContin on the opioid epidemic, and Wright’s name comes up in that series, as well. As ScreenRant details, Wright is linked repeatedly in the series with corruption and the aggressive marketing around OxyContin.
Where is Curtis Wright now?
Purdue Pharma no longer exists and Curtis Wright no longer works for the company. As of 2018, he was working as a consultant, according to the Clarion Ledger.
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