Sacklers confronted by opioid crisis victims and families at virtual hearing
A virtual hearing on Thursday in US bankruptcy court gave survivors of opioid dependency and people who lost loved ones to the crisis what they have long desired – an official chance to confront members of the family behind Purdue Pharma, the US creator of the powerful but highly addictive prescription painkiller OxyContin.
They blamed the billionaire Sackler family members for helping spur the epidemic that ultimately has cost about half a million American lives, through aggressive marketing of Purdue’s signature narcotic and for failing to take responsibility for their role.
Three Sackler family members attended the hearing: Richard, Theresa and David Sackler.
Under court rules, they could not respond and had to sit silently while roughly two dozen people gave emotional statements.
Public activism, pressure via state and local lawsuits across the US and investigative journalism have contributed to sending Connecticut-based Purdue Pharma into bankruptcy and force the family group that’s controlled the company for generations to relinquish ownership.
The Sacklers have also being pressed to provide more of their vast billions accrued from the pain business for communities to combat opioid addiction.
Richard Sackler appeared only via audio; he is the former Purdue president and board chair who has said the company and family bear no responsibility for the opioid crisis.
He also is a son of Raymond Sackler, one of the three brothers who in the 1950s bought the company that became Purdue Pharma.
Theresa Sackler is a British dame and wife of the late Mortimer D Sackler, another of the brothers, while David Sackler is Richard Sackler’s son. Both appeared on video.
The forum was an unconventional hearing for the White Plains, New York,
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