Keefe turns up plenty of answers, including the details of how the Sacklers—the first generation of three brothers, followed by their children and grandchildren—marketed their goods, beginning with "ethical drugs" (as distinct from illegal ones) to treat mental illness, Librium and then Valium, which were effectively the same thing but were advertised as treating different maladies: "If Librium was the cure for 'anxiety, ' Valium should be prescribed for 'psychic tension. ' Rather than accept a standard pay arrangement, Arthur proposed that he receive a small commission on any ad sale he made. Two-thirds of the way through Patrick Radden Keefe's 2021 Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty, I had to take a break.
He "devised campaigns that would appeal directly to clinicians, placing eye-catching ads in medical journals and distributing literature to doctors' offices. The worthy winner of the Baillie Gifford prize earlier this month, Patrick Radden Keefe's Empire of Pain is a work of nonfiction that has the dramatic scope and moral power of a Victorian novel. Her work performance suffered, and Purdue fired her after 21 years with the company. Enter OxyContin, a hard-shelled pill that released its powerful medication slowly and steadily, thus avoiding the peaks and troughs of pain relief that can foster addiction. Humans have known for thousands of years that medicines derived from the opium poppy can have extraordinary therapeutic benefits but can also be potentially addictive. Policymakers might want to consider such counsel, especially when it is coupled with the observation that free trade benefits workers in poor countries but punishes workers in rich ones. "This whole story is about marketing. Arthur arranged for his brothers to sell advertising for The Dutchman, the student magazine at Erasmus.
Not only does he detail exactly how the opioid crisis began and grew—it was no accident—he drags into the spotlight one of the most secretive, wealthy and powerful families in corporate America and holds them to account... Keefe is a relentless reporter and a graceful, crisp writer with a gift for pacing... Keefe brings the receipts[. The answer turned out to be the huge existing market of people in this country who had started using prescription painkillers and eventually graduated to heroin. This information about Empire of Pain was first featured. It raises many questions about the role that various groups play in the drug process and who is or should be ultimately responsible. Erasmus was a great stone temple to American meritocracy, and most of the time it seemed that the only practical limitation on what he could expect to get out of life would be what he was personally prepared to put into it.
His tenure coincides with their entry into the painkiller business with MS Contin, OxyContin's precursor, a slow-release morphine in a pill that patients could take at home. When they met under the great vaulted entrance arch during the lunch hour, it looked, in the words of one of Arthur's classmates, like a "Hollywood cocktail party. Estimated to be one of the 20 wealthiest families in the U. S., the Sackler name can be found on some of the finest art, medical and educational institutions in the world. Arthur led the way for his kid brothers in all things. The three plead guilty only to "misbranding, " and the company paid out a $600 million fine, just half a year of OxyContin profits. I think you see the same thing with the demonization of people who are struggling with addiction. Working at a barbaric mental institution, Arthur saw a better way and conducted groundbreaking research into drug treatments. Over the past few years we have focused on discussing memoirs, biographies, and other works of nonfiction. Renowned for their philanthropy, the Sacklers built their fortune through the pharmaceutical industry in the 1940s and '50s, making calculated moves in medical advertising and with the Food and Drug Administration. The early philanthropies were financed by ethically questionable business practices, and the later ones by the OxyContin profits. I've talked to doctor friends who say, Oh, of course the pharma companies are always trying to influence us, but I would never be influenced by that sort of thing.
Keefe is a gifted storyteller who excels at capturing personalities. " But there's not necessarily the medical understanding about how to taper people off these drugs or deciding how long they should take them. "An engrossing (and frequently enraging) tale of striving, secrecy and self-delusion… nimbly guides us through the thicket of family intrigues and betrayals… Even when detailing the most sordid episodes, Keefe's narrative voice is calm and admirably restrained, allowing his prodigious reporting to speak for itself. It has saved, improved, and extended the lives of much of humanity for over a century. And I got my second Pfizer shot the other day. His honors include a National Book Critics Circle Award for his earlier Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland. And here's another shocker: the FDA agreed. On the other hand, I do think sometimes you need to trust the doctors.
The judge said it was inappropriate for the forum. You have this family that won't talk to me, but I'm looking at birth announcements and bar mitzvah invitations, and wedding announcements—these moments from their lives. It's a story about taking one thing and dressing it up to make it look like another, " Keefe says. Seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis. The most recent one arrived just a couple of weeks ago. I'm fine; it was a mild case and I'm already feeling much better. I noticed that they were exporting more heroin to the U. S. and wondered why. I wish Keefe made space in this very long book — more than 500 pages with footnotes — to describe the effect of opioids on a family that wasn't named Sackler... That is a shame because Keefe is such a talented researcher and storyteller, and a sustained portrait of one of the multitude of families ruined by the Sacklers' drug would have presented their callousness in even starker relief.