Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty

Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe

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Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe: 3. The Business of Pain

3. The Business of Pain

BBC Radio 4 - Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe, 3. The Business of Pain

New thinking on pain treatment presents a business opportunity to the Sackler company.

In Patrick Radden Keefe's book on the opioid crisis it's 1984 and pain treatment suggests a potentially lucrative business opportunity for the Sacklers' company. Kyle Soller reads.

Patrick Radden Keefe's award-winning account of America's opioid epidemic tells the story of the Sackler family, how they amassed their fortune, and the role of their pharmaceutical company in a public health crisis that spanned the nation.  Today, it's 1984 and new thinking on the treatment of chronic pain presents the Sacklers  with a potentially lucrative business opportunity.

The Sackler family are famed for their philanthropy. The name adorns the walls of many of the world's most prestigious institutions, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Louvre, and the British Museum to name just a few. Less well known is that much of their wealth came from the powerful painkiller, OxyContin. While the drug wasn’t the only opioid behind this public health emergency, it is regarded as the pioneer. What follows is the story of an immigrant family struggling to survive during the depression, and who, as the 20th century progressed turned their lives around by making their way into the pharmaceutical business. It was Arthur Sackler's role in the marketing of  Valium that was the basis of the first Sackler fortune. Later, the lessons learned in making Valium a success story were applied to OxyContin in the 1990s, leading to phenomenal wealth for the Sacklers. Meanwhile, on the eve of the new millenium, families across America were beginning to fall victim to what would become the opioid epidemic.


Patrick Radden Keefe is an award-winning writer at the New Yorker, winner of the 2019 Orwell Prize for Political Writing and the Baille Gifford Prize, 2021

Kyle Soller is an American film, stage, and television actor. His accolades include an Olivier Award, and three Evening Standard Theatre Awards.

Abridger: Katrin Williams.
Producer: Elizabeth Allard.

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The story of the Sackler family's role in America's devastating opioid crisis.

Book of the Week. Patrick Radden Keefe investigates how the Sackler family acquired their phenomenal wealth, and their role in the America's opioid crisis. Kyle Soller reads.

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Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe

3. The Business of Pain

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