In 2007, Purdue paid out one of the largest fines ever levied against a pharmaceutical firm for misleading the public about how addictive the drug OxyContin was compared to other pain medications.

[17] The company's downfall was the subject of the 2021 Hulu miniseries Dopesick, the 2021 HBO film The Crime of the Century, the 2023 Netflix series Painkiller, and several documentaries and books.

[20] Sixty years later, in 1952, the company was sold to three other medical doctors, brothers Arthur, Raymond and Mortimer Sackler, who relocated the business to Yonkers, New York.

[26] That same month, the company announced it would acquire VM Pharma in the process gaining access to worldwide development and commercial rights to an allosteric selective tropomyosin receptor kinase inhibitor program, i.e., the Phase II candidate VM-902A.

[31] Allen Frances, former chair of psychiatry at Duke University School of Medicine, said: “Their name has been pushed forward as the epitome of good works and of the fruits of the capitalist system.

[35] Sister companies to Purdue that are also controlled by descendants of the Sackler brothers are Napp Pharmaceuticals in the United Kingdom and Mundipharma[36] that are selling opioids globally.

[43] Approval to prescribe OxyContin for "moderate to severe pain" was granted by Dr Curtis Wright IV, the medical review officer for the FDA.

The information label approved by the FDA contained the text "Delayed absorption, as provided by OxyContin tablets, is believed to reduce the abuse liability of a drug.

"[45] The ambiguous text "is believed to reduce the abuse liability" became a key issue in subsequent lawsuits against Purdue and was quoted in the 2007 felony conviction of the company for criminal misbranding.

According to a study in the American Journal of Public Health, "more than 5,000 physicians, pharmacists, and nurses attended these all-expenses-paid symposia, where they were recruited and trained for Purdue's national speaker bureau.

[3] In 2021, McKinsey reached a settlement with the attorneys general of 47 states, the District of Columbia, and five territories to pay $537 million and to agree not to work with certain narcotics manufacturers.

[50] Kevin Sneader, the McKinsey's global managing partner, stated, "With this agreement, we hope to be part of the solution to the opioid crisis in the U.S."[51] Purdue claimed that one dose of OxyContin relieved pain for 12 hours, more than twice as long as generic medications.

A 2016 investigation by the Los Angeles Times reported that in many people OxyContin's 12-hour schedule does not adequately control pain, resulting in withdrawal symptoms including intense craving for the drug.

The Los Angeles Times quoted Theodore J. Cicero, a neuropharmacologist at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis who said that when it doesn't last 12 hours, patients can suffer both a return of their underlying pain and "the beginning stages of acute withdrawal."

[59][60] In 2019, Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Maggie Hassan requested the Justice Department give them a copy of the memo, stating it is "purported to include evidence that Purdue Pharma executives may have lied when they told Congress that they had no knowledge of the extensive abuse and diversion of OxyContin before it was made known to them in 2000".

In his ruling the trial judge wrote: "Plaintiff's evidence shows Purdue could have tested the safety and efficacy of OxyContin at eight hours, and could have amended their label, but did not."

The case never went to trial; Purdue agreed to settle by paying the state US$10 million (equivalent to approximately $16M in 2023) for programs to discourage drug abuse, with all the evidence remaining under seal and confidential.

[29] In May 2007, the company pleaded guilty to misleading the public about OxyContin's risk of addiction and agreed to pay $600 million (equivalent to approximately $882M in 2023) in one of the largest pharmaceutical settlements in U.S. history.

The company's president (Michael Friedman), top lawyer (Howard R. Udell), and former chief medical officer (Paul D. Goldenheim) pleaded guilty as individuals to misbranding charges, a criminal violation and agreed to pay a total of US$34.5 million in fines.

[70][71][72] The black market sale of the drug out of legal pharmacies based in Los Angeles with distributions points in Everett is also said to be part of the experience of the city according to the suit.

The court filing for Massachusetts stated, "Purdue determined that opioid savings cards worked like the teaser rate on a long-term and very high-stakes mortgage.

"[76] In March 2019, Purdue Pharma reached a $270 million settlement in a lawsuit[77] filed by Oklahoma, which claimed its opioids contributed to the deaths of thousands of people.

[80][81] In response to the role of Purdue in the opioid crisis, photographer Nan Goldin launched the organization P.A.I.N., to pressure museums and other cultural institutions to divest from Sackler Family philanthropy.

[82] As of May 2023[update], at least 20 institutions have dropped the Sackler name, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Yale University in the USA; and the National Gallery in London.

[84] The settlement would include a Chapter 11 filing by Purdue Pharma, which would be restructured as public beneficiary trust and the Sackler Family would give up any ownership in the company.

[92] In 2021, the Sacklers sought a controversial ruling from judge Robert D. Drain to grant them immunity and protect their assets from lawsuits linked to the opioid crisis.

[93] In August 2021, US Representatives Carolyn Maloney and Mark DeSaulnier introduced a SACKLER Act to try and prevent people who have not filed for bankruptcy from being released from lawsuits brought by states, municipalities or the U.S. government.

Maloney claimed that the Sackler family were using "a loophole in our bankruptcy system to protect their billions of dollars in wealth," and accused the department of Justice of having "been complicit in devising" the settlement plan.

[96] In September 2021, the company won approval of a $4.5 billion (US) plan that will legally dissolve the pharmaceutical manufacturer and restructure it into a public benefit corporation focused on addressing the opioid crisis and repaying individuals and families who were damaged by its products.

[99][100] In May 2023, the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York endorsed the $6 billion settlement, with the Sackler family giving up ownership of Purdue and all profits being sent to a fund to prevent and treat opioid addiction.