Miniseries about Tempts to bring the Sackler family to justice. Well worth a single watch but not something I'd rewatch.
Interesting things I learned are:
Pharma reps were paid based on mg sold, not tablets. This they pushed doctors to keep increasing patient dosages.
Oxy is stronger than morphine, which is something reserved for end of of life care. By designing it as time-released, it was sold as safe and nonaddictive.
Oxy said it lasts 12 hours but it didn't it lasted more like 8. Meaning that regular users would experience withdrawal twice a day. Purdue knew this.
The mice in trials exhibited enormous signs of addiction while the human trials were a complete mess. In one, a third of the patients left it. In both human trials, most patients weren't making it through the night without a serious return of pain.
The FDA check was held up as major concerns were flagged. After exorbitant amounts of attention including gifts, Purdue whisked Curtis Wright away for 3 days and when they returned the FDA approval stated oxy "is believed" to be less addictive than other opiates. Only time that phrase appears on FDA form. Wright later worked for Purdue.
The first State DA to bring charges against Purdue was later hired as a consultant and this changed his tube.
