Is Netflix’s Painkiller Based on a True Story?

Netflix’s “Painkiller” tells the story of how one household constructed a enterprise that helped launch the opioid disaster, and the way they evaded actual penalties for a very long time even amid ongoing authorized struggles. The restricted sequence, which premieres on Aug. 10, relies on Patrick Radden Keefe’s 2017 New Yorker article “The Family That Built an Empire of Pain” and Barry Meier’s ebook “Pain Killer: An Empire of Deceit and the Origin of America’s Opioid Epidemic,” which each chronicle how Purdue Pharma — led by the Sackler household — obscured the reality about their product OxyContin.

Are the Characters in “Painkiller” Based on Real People?

“Painkiller” is a scripted sequence, nevertheless it sticks intently to real-life occasions because it traces the rise and fall of the Sackler household’s empire. Most of its primary characters are fictional, together with Edie Flowers (Uzo Aduba), a lawyer from Virginia who, within the sequence, performs a key function in investigating the Sacklers’ empire. Another one in every of its primary plotlines follows Glen Kryger, a fictional mechanic who will get hooked on opioids after an damage, and a third facilities West Duchovny as a fictional Purdue Pharma salesperson named Shannon Shaeffer.

Each one in every of these characters, whereas not based mostly on actual individuals, is a composite of various real-life tales. “Edie represents the front line,” director Pete Berg advised Netflix on July 11. “At that time when OxyContin was just starting to be a thing and law enforcement all over the country was starting to see deaths, crimes and pill mills popping up, there was a group of law enforcement who were the first wave to see the tragedy beginning to unfold. They then had to start trying to figure out, ‘Well, what is going on here?'”

Some of the characters featured within the sequence are very actual, although, reminiscent of Purdue Pharma executives Richard Sackler (Matthew Broderick) and Mortimer Sackler (John Rothman). Meanwhile, Tyler Ritter performs Edie’s supervisor US Attorney John Brownlee, who actually did work to efficiently convict Purdue Pharma of misbranding OxyContin in 2007, a story that fashioned the premise of Hulu’s 2021 sequence “Dopesick.”

The True Events That Inspired “Painkiller”

“Painkiller” traces the Sackler household’s story from the start, beginning with brothers Arthur, Mortimer, and Raymond Sackler, who purchased a firm referred to as Purdue Frederick in 1952, per the New Yorker. Arthur shortly realized that there was actual cash to be made in advertising capsules to the general public, although, and one in every of his early successes was Valium, which grew to become a phenomenon when it was launched in 1963. Shortly after Arthur’s dying in 1987, Mortimer and Raymond took over the corporate, which was renamed Purdue Pharma in 1991.

By 1996, one in every of Purdue’s primary income sources, a tablet referred to as MS Contin that was meant for dying most cancers sufferers, was failing to show important income. That 12 months, although, Purdue developed and patented a model of MS Contin referred to as OxyContin. Per the Financial Times, Richard noticed potential within the product and determined to focus the corporate’s power on it, declaring that his advertising strategy would set off “a blizzard of prescriptions that will bury the competition.”

Purdue branded OxyContin as a drug that might cease all types of ache, from arthritis to again aches. They claimed it was efficient for 12 hours at a time, and likewise stated it was not addictive until sufferers already had addictive personalities, per the National Library of Medicine. Their advertising ways included flying medical doctors to costly conferences and inspiring gross sales reps to kind shut bonds with medical doctors, and their strategy was profitable, netting $3 billion by 2010, per the Los Angeles Times, and incomes them a complete of $10 billion total, per NPR.

It quickly grew to become obvious that OxyContin’s results wore off earlier than the 12-hour mark, although, and that it was way more addictive than marketed. Soon, many sufferers discovered themselves hooked on a drug their medical doctors had advised them was protected — and but Purdue continued to push the product, releasing greater dosages and persevering with to considerably downplay the drug’s addictive potential of their advertising efforts, as documented by the LA Times. OxyContin’s success impressed different firms to start releasing comparable (and equally addictive) merchandise, and this unleashed an opioid epidemic that may declare lots of of 1000’s of lives.

In 2007, the US Justice Department launched a felony investigation that culminated in Purdue’s three high executives pleading responsible to fraud for minimizing the risks of OxyContin of their advertising ways. They have been in the end fined $635 million, per the LA Times. In 2022, the household agreed to pay $6 billion as a part of a lawsuit with a number of attorneys normal, per Reuters, although the settlement additionally sought to grant the household immunity from present or future civil lawsuits and the Sackler household has admitted no wrongdoing. However, the settlement was blocked by the Supreme Court on Aug. 10, per CNN.

Meanwhile, per the CDC, the opioid disaster value the US $1 trillion in 2017, and greater than 564,000 individuals have died from an overdose involving opioids between 1999 and 2020, based on the CDC, and dying charges have quintupled since 1999. The first wave of the disaster started within the Nineteen Nineties with the overprescription of artificial opioids like OxyContin, whereas medication like heroin and fentanyl rose to prominence within the 2010. Per the CDC, opioids have been the reason for practically 75 p.c of the 91,799 drug overdose deaths that occurred within the US in 2020.

The disaster wasn’t completely brought on by the Sacklers alone, although, a proven fact that “Painkiller” government producer Eric Newman wished to emphasise within the sequence. “It’s certainly not just [about] the Sacklers,” he stated. “It’s the political machine. It’s the pharmaceutical industrial complex. You can’t understand the epidemic unless you look at all of the participants. The people who did it, the people who let it happen, the people who suffered from it — and the people who blew the whistle on it.”

It’s additionally exhausting to know the human value of the opioid epidemic by studying statistics alone, however “Painkiller” additionally tries to focus on the real-life tales of individuals harmed by the disaster, and initially of each episode it options a actual one that has been personally affected by OxyContin. First, they learn a disclaimer reminding the viewers that the characters within the present aren’t actual — however then, briefly, they inform their very own story, reminding viewers that all-too-real occasions impressed each a part of what they’re about to observe.

“Painkiller” premieres on Netflix on Aug. 10.