When Richard Sackler took to the stage at the Purdue Pharma annual meeting in January 2000, he was in a buoyant mood. OxyContin, the company's opioid painkiller, was on track to make $US1 billion in sales that year. "Together, we are creating something that is new, special and different," he said. "And we have already accomplished spectacular things."

Dr Sackler (or Dr Richard, as he is known inside Purdue) was not being hyperbolic. Few medicines end up proving so lucrative, and those that do tend to be developed by Big Pharma companies. OxyContin stands out because it was not masterminded by a team of globally renowned scientists and executives, but rather by Dr Richard and other members of the Sackler clan: his father, uncle, siblings and cousins. It was not only a blockbuster drug and great American success story. It was a family affair.

Financial Times