Hide caption A name that graces world-renowned museums and programs at elite universities is rapidly becoming synonymous with the opioid crisis, as the owners of OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma and its Coventry, R.I. subsidiary are named in a series of lawsuits. The Sackler name is on world-renowned museums and elite-university programs. But except for their philanthropy, the Sacklers have mostly remained private. That may soon change. Sackler family members own multibillion-dollar OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma and its Rhode Island subsidiary, Rhodes Pharmaceuticals in Coventry, scene of a Feb. 7 protest against the firm’s role in the opioid epidemic. Already the subject of numerous lawsuits concerning their role in opioid overdoses and deaths, Purdue and its principals were further exposed last month when Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey filed a 274-page brief that names a Sackler 1,120 times. As the Massachusetts suit proceeds along with others, including one filed last year by the Rhode Island attorney general , it is expected that prosecutors using the power of the court will learn more than family members ever expected to be revealed. The Sacklers have granted few interviews over the years, even though their extensive donations have popularized their name. There is the Arthur M. Sackler Museum at Harvard; the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences at Tufts; and the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Institute for Biological, Physical and Engineering Sciences at Yale. Washington has The Smithsonian’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, New York City the Sackler Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of […]
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