Carolina Diaz’s Reviews > Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty > Status Update

“OxyContin would not be a “niche” drug just for cancer pain, the minutes of an early Purdue team meeting confirm. By the company’s estimates, fifty million Americans suffered from some form of chronic pain. That was the market they wanted to reach. OxyContin would be a drug for everyone.”

“But he was transparent about his expectation that a philanthropist should be entitled, in exchange for his generosity, to a broad range of prerogatives. Philanthropy wasn’t charity, as his lawyer Michael Sonnenreich insisted.”

“He suggested that he would purchase from the Met all of the artworks that would fill the new space… he offered to pay the price the Met had originally paid -the 1920s price - and then donate the works back to the museum, with the understanding that each piece would henceforth be described as a “gift of Arthur Sackler,” even though they had belonged to the museum all along.”