Sackler family member who owns drug firm Purdue tells Congress ‘there’s nothing I would have done differently’ despite role OxyContin played in America’s devastating opioid crisis
- Kathe Sackler and David Sackler, who are members of the family that owns Purdue Pharma, appeared before the House Oversight Committee on Thursday
- It is the first time in years that any member of the wealthy family have taken questions in public from an official body
- The two stopped short of apologizing or admitting wrongdoing in regards to OxyContin’s role in the national opioid crisis
- When asked if she would apologize for any role Purdue has played in the crisis, Kathe said she had struggled with the question for years
- Kathe said: ‘I have to say that there’s nothing that I can find that I would have done differently’
One of the owners of the company that makes OxyContin says she wouldn’t have done anything differently after acknowledging during a congressional hearing that the powerful prescription painkiller has played a role in the national opioid crisis.
Kathe Sackler and David Sackler, who are members of the wealthy family that owns Purdue Pharma, made a rare public appearance on Thursday during a congressional hearing before the House Oversight Committee.
While the two acknowledged that the powerful prescription painkiller has played a role in the national opioid crisis, they stopped short of apologizing or admitting wrongdoing.
When asked if she would apologize for any role she played in the crisis, Kathe said she had struggled with the question of whether she could have done anything differently for years.
‘I have tried to figure out if there’s anything that I could have done differently knowing what I knew then, not what I know now,’ she said.
‘I have to say that there’s nothing that I can find that I would have done differently.’
Kathe Sackler and David Sackler, who are members of the family that owns Purdue Pharma, made a rare appearance in a public forum on Thursday during a congressional hearing before the House Oversight Committee
Rep. Kelly Armstrong, a North Dakota Republican, noted that OxyContin sales revenue increased even after the company pleaded guilty to crimes for improper marketing of the drug.
‘You want to ask what you could have done differently?’ she asked. ‘Look at your own damn balance sheet.’
Kathe’s cousin, David, noted that OxyContin had helped ‘millions of Americans’.
‘I want to express my family’s deep sadness about the opioid crisis,’ he told the hearing. ‘OxyContin is a medicine that Purdue intended to help people, and it has helped, and continues to help, millions of Americans.’
Kethe and David, who are descendants of two of the three brothers who bought Purdue nearly 70 years ago, appeared before the committee in a video hearing held amid COVID-19 restrictions.
The congressional committee is investigating the Sackler family and the company’s role in the national opioid addiction and overdose epidemic.
It is the first time in years that any member of the wealthy family have taken questions in public from an official body.
They appeared before the hearing after the committee’s chairwoman, Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney of New York, threatened to issue subpoenas.
The congressional committee is investigating the Sackler family and the company’s role in the national opioid addiction and overdose epidemic. The family owns OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma
The hearing came three weeks after Purdue pleaded guilty to three criminal charges as part of a sweeping settlement with the Department of Justice.
The company agreed to pay more than $8 billion in forfeitures and penalties, while members of the Sackler family would have to pay $225 million to the government. No family member would be criminally prosecuted under the Justice Department settlement, although the deal leaves open that possibility.
The settlement requires the company to hand over just $225 million of the $8 billion total to the government as long as Purdue makes good on plans to settle thousands of lawsuits filed by state and local governments, a matter that is now in bankruptcy court.
State and local governments blame the company’s marketing efforts for contributing to an opioid addiction and overdose crisis that has been linked to 470,000 deaths in the US over the past two decades.
The Stamford, Connecticut-based company and the Sacklers have proposed resolving the lawsuits by transforming Purdue into a public benefit corporation, with its profits used to combat the opioid epidemic.