What is Purdue Pharma?
'''Purdue Pharma''' started as the '''Purdue Frederick Company''' in 1892. It was an American privately held [[pharmaceutical]] company in [[New York City|New York]]. Arthur, Mortimer, and Raymond Sackler bought it in 1952. They concentrated on [[pain]] management and advertised their drugs to doctors. Purdue Pharma L.P was created in 1991.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Sales|first=Ben|date=2019-05-22|title=Who are the Sacklers, the family at the center of the opioid crisis?|url=https://www.jta.org/2019/05/22/united-states/who-are-the-sacklers-the-family-at-the-center-of-the-opioid-crisis|access-date=2023-10-17|website=Jewish Telegraphic Agency|language=en-US}}</ref> In 1996, Purdue Pharma started selling [[OxyContin]], a new version of oxycodone, an [[opioid]]. It was approved by the [[Food and Drug Administration|FDA]] in 1995 after no long-term studies and no assessment of how addictive it was.<ref>{{cite web |title=Confirmation Hearing for FDA Commissioner Nominee |date=14 December 2021 |url= https://archive.org/details/CSPAN3_20211214_150000_Confirmation_Hearing_for_FDA_Commissioner_Nominee |publisher=[[C-SPAN]] |access-date=12 December 2022}}</ref> Their advertising to doctors was very effective. The drug was very successful and made US$35 billion for Purdue.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/30/the-family-that-built-an-empire-of-pain |title=The Family That Built an Empire of Pain |author-link=Patrick Radden Keefe |date=23 October 2017 |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |access-date=2 February 2019 |archive-date=22 January 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180122073308/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/30/the-family-that-built-an-empire-of-pain |url-status=live }}</ref> It is very easy to be [[Addiction|addicted]] to it. From 1999 to 2020 opioids killed about 500,000 people in the USA. <ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-10-02|title=Prescription Opioids {{!}} Opioids {{!}} CDC|url=https://www.cdc.gov/opioids/basics/prescribed.html|access-date=2023-10-17|website=www