Sackler family pumped $19 MILLION into federal agency tasked with opioid regulation

A renowned advisory group charged with shaping the federal response to the opioid crisis has accepted about $19 million in donations from the Sackler family, it has been revealed.

According to the New York Timesthe National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, a non-governmental institution, accepted millions of donations as of 2000.

The Sackler family owns Purdue Pharma, the maker of the addictive opioid Oxycontin.

Nearly all 50 states have filed lawsuits against Purdue and Sackler’s relatives for their alleged role in the opioid crisis, and many institutions have been forced to publicly distance themselves from the family.

The crisis has led to hundreds of thousands of overdose deaths in the US.

The National Academies serve as the nation’s independent advisor on science and medicine, including advising the government on pain medications.

Members are elected each year, which is seen as an honor for eminent scientists and physicians.

Marcia McNutt, John L. Anderson, and Victor J. Dzau are the current presidents of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, respectively.

The National Academies receives 70 percent of its budget from federal funding, the remainder from its endowment and private donors.

According to the outlet, the Sackler family made the first donations to the National Academies in 2008 — from Dr. Raymond Sackler, his wife, Beverly Sackler, and the couple’s foundation.

Daniel S. Connolly, an attorney for the Raymond and Beverly Sackler family, said the couple gave $13.1 million to the National Academy of Sciences.

He said it was intended to support the institution “in ways that are clearly publicly described as having nothing to do with pain, drugs or anything related to the company at all.”

The treasurer of the National Academies reports that the amount was $14 million.

According to the New York Times, Dame Jillian Sackler’s donations began in 2000 and totaled $5 million in 2017.

It reports that the gifts qualified the Sackler donors for the institution’s Lincoln Society, made up of top givers who enhance the “impact of the Academies as advisors to the nation,” according to the 2021 treasurer’s report.

The Academies invested the funds, which had grown to more than $31 million by the end of 2021, according to the most recent accounting available.

The National Academies previously came under fire for a 2011 report that claimed 100 million Americans suffered from chronic pain.

The estimate turned out to be very high and the report has now been largely discredited.

The National Academies have not conducted a public review to determine whether the Sackler donations influenced policy-making, despite the publication of two major reports that influenced national opioid policy, including the one from 2011.

According to the outlet, the advisory group faced further trouble in 2016, when members of a committee designed to make new recommendations on opioids were removed over complaints of “substantial ties” to opioid manufacturers, including Purdue.

Lisa Bero, chief scientist at the University of Colorado Center for Bioethics and Humanities, told the outlet that accepting millions from the Sacklers while advising on pain policies “would be considered a conflict of interest under almost any conflict of interest policy I have pursued.” ever seen’.

A statement on the article from The National Academies said: ‘As the magnitude of the opioid epidemic in this country became apparent, the NAS Council decided to freeze the use of these funds in 2019.

“We are deeply troubled by the human tragedy of the opioid epidemic and are committed to the responsible disposal or repurposing of these funds.

The news article suggests that the Sacklers’ donations posed a conflict of interest to the National Academies’ studies on chronic pain, opioid use, and ways to combat the opioid epidemic.

“The Sackler funds have never been used to support an advisory study on these issues. It is also important to note that these funds were donated to the NAS, not the National Academy of Medicine.”

It added that the group had been “transparent” about the Sackler funds, “listing them in our annual treasurer reports and elsewhere.”

The Sacklers have not admitted their wrongdoing, but reached a historic $6 billion settlement in March 2022 to pay governments across the country and relinquish control of Purdue Pharma.

The deal officially dissolved the company and the money will be used to fund victim compensation and addiction treatment.

Notably, the settlement frees the Sackler family from all future civil lawsuits, but does not exclude them from criminal charges.