Demand that Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University Change its Name

Dear Dr. Stephen H. Lazar, Executive Dean:

Most students and alumni of the Sackler School of Medicine have not researched the origins of the Sackler family wealth. A recent article in the New Yorker magazine has enlightened some of us previously ignorant of the magnitude of the public health crisis perpetrated by the family-owned pharmaceutical company Purdue. As many of us know, the country is plagued by an opioid addiction crisis that has grown precipitously since the introduction of OxyContin in 1996. Prescriptions of opioids more than tripled from 76 million in 1991 to 259 million in 2012 (Rudd et al. 2016). Only recently has the rate of opioid prescribing decreased owing to the growing awareness among clinicians and patients of the risks associated with these medications and perhaps to the reformulation of OxyContin making it more difficult to abuse. However, as of 2015, over 590,000 and 2 million individuals were addicted to heroin and prescription pain relievers, respectively (SAMHSA). Deaths from opioids including heroin have skyrocketed from 6000 in 2000 to over 33,000 in 2015 (CDC).

Employing deceptive marketing practices while concealing the potential for addiction of their drugs, Purdue has steadfastly and ruthlessly pursued a scorched-earth campaign to maximize OxyContin sales with a malicious disregard for life that is only matched by drug cartels. Purdue pleaded guilty to federal criminal charge of misbranding in 2006, and acknowledged that the company had marketed OxyContin “with the intent to defraud or mislead”. Purdue falsely claimed that OxyContin was less addictive and less likely to cause withdrawal symptoms than other pain medications. OxyContin’s market dominance hinged on its 12-hour duration, though the company was fully aware that the drug wears off in 8 hours in many individuals. Purdue directed doctors to prescribe stronger doses, not more frequent ones. This practice led to higher risk of overdose and death, worse withdrawal symptoms, and created a cycle of pain and euphoria that fostered addiction. Sales reps pitched the drug to family doctors and general practitioners to treat common conditions such as backaches and knee pain instead of solely to those with cancer or the terminally ill, as was customarily the practice before OxyContin’s debut.

Over the last 20 years, more than 7 million Americans have abused OxyContin, according to the federal government’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Profiting by killing people has enriched the Sackler family fortune but has tainted the reputation of our Medical School with a name that stands in stark contrast to the values and goals of the professionals who attend and have graduated from this respected program.