FIGHTING BACK - A PILL, A LIE, AND HALF A MILLION DEAD: THE SACKLERS AND PURDUE PHARMA — PART 1
Published: May 13, 2026
Duration: 18:27
They called it a miracle of pain management. Their own salespeople called it a drug. Their own documents called it a franchise.
Garret Fisher opens the two-part Purdue Pharma story — the most destructive corporate drug case in American history. In 1996 the Sackler family's privately owned pharmaceutical company launched OxyContin with a marketing campaign built on a lie: that this powerful opioid was less addictive than existing painkillers because of its slow-release formula. Internal documents show the company knew the 12-hour dosing claim was false. They knew. They told their salespeople to say it anyway. They paid do...
Garret Fisher opens the two-part Purdue Pharma story — the most destructive corporate drug case in American history. In 1996 the Sackler family's privately owned pharmaceutical company launched OxyContin with a marketing campaign built on a lie: that this powerful opioid was less addictive than existing painkillers because of its slow-release formula. Internal documents show the company knew the 12-hour dosing claim was false. They knew. They told their salespeople to say it anyway. They paid do...