Smithsonian, Tufts Join Long List In 2019 To Drop The Sackler Name

Topline: The Smithsonian and Tufts University joined a list of museums and universities this week to either remove the Sackler family name from buildings or refuse to take their money, as the nation’s opioid crisis continues to gain attention and backlash against OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma⁠—owned by the Sacklers⁠—forced the company to file for bankruptcy.

Here are the institutions that cut ties with the Sacklers in 2019: 

• Tufts University: It became the first university to remove the Sackler name Thursday, with five buildings and programs dropping it because “students find it objectionable,” the school’s dean of medicine told the New York Times.
• The Smithsonian: Billed a “rebrand” by the D.C-based institution Wednesday, its Asian art galleries⁠—the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and the Freer Gallery⁠—have been renamed the National Museum of Asian Art.   
• The Louvre: It became the first art museum to remove the Sackler name from its walls in July, with gray masking tape covering the surname on a plaque and other signs.
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art: In May it said it would stop accepting financial contributions from the Sacklers. 
• The American Museum of Natural History: The museum also said in May it would stop accepting donations from the Sacklers⁠—the same week the Met made the same decision. 
• The Guggenheim: The New York-based art museum said in March it would stop accepting gifts from the Sacklers. 
• London’s Tate and National Gallery: The Tate said in March it would not accept financial contributions (but would not remove references to the family), while the National Gallery said that same month it would not accept a $1.3 million donation from the Sacklers.

Chief critic: Jillian Sackler. She’s the widow of Arthur M. Sackler, who made donations to Tufts decades ago. “The man has been dead for 32 years. He did not profit from [OxyContin], and none of his philanthropic gifts were in any way connected to opioids or to deceptive medical marketing. …It deeply saddens me to witness Arthur being blamed,” she said in a statement to the New York Times. An attorney representing family members of Raymond Sackler, Arthur’s brother, is planning to contest Tufts’ decision.

Key background: As the opioid crisis has gained mainstream attention, with thousands of lawsuits filed against drug companies across the country, greater attention is also being paid to the Sacklers, who own Purdue Pharma. Purdue, which brought the opioid OxyContin to market in 1995, filed for bankruptcy and agreed to dissolve the company in September to settle a sweeping opioid lawsuit with 24 states and 2,000 small government plaintiffs. The company could contribute up to $12 billion as part of the settlement, which has yet to be finalized. Purdue was previously fined $634 million in 2007 for mislabeling OxyContin as a safer and less addictive alternative to other painkillers, and has reportedly used aggressive marketing techniques to increase sales.

Big number: Over $35 billion worth of OxyContin has been sold by Purdue to date, with over $4 billion in profit distributed to the Sacklers since 2007. Collectively, the Sacklers’ wealth was estimated at $13 billion by Forbes as recently as 2016. 

Tangent: In 2019, other organizations—Columbia University, the New York Academy of Arts and Sciences  and two hedge funds—cut ties with the Sacklers as more information about the opioid crisis surfaced and the number of lawsuits filed against the family and Purdue Pharma mounted.