Tufts University Latest Organization To Distance Itself From Sackler Family Following Opioid Crisis Fallout
“Our students find it objectionable to walk into a building that says Sackler on it when they come in here to get their medical education,” said Dr. Harris A. Berman, the dean of the Tufts University School of Medicine. Tufts won't return the money Sackler has donated over the years, but will instead set up an endowment to help combat the epidemic.
The New York Times:
Tufts Removes Sackler Name Over Opioids: ‘Our Students Find It Objectionable’
Tufts University removed the Sackler name from five facilities and programs on Thursday over the family’s role in the opioid epidemic, a gesture aimed at distancing the institution from a pharmaceutical dynasty closely tied to the school for 40 years. The Sacklers’ company, Purdue Pharma, the producer of the prescription painkiller OxyContin, has been cast by prosecutors and plaintiffs as responsible for an addiction epidemic that has led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans over the past two decades. (Barry, 12/5)
The Associated Press:
Tufts University Severs Ties With Family Behind OxyContin
University officials announced the decision Thursday, ending a relationship that has spanned nearly four decades and brought $15 million to the school’s science and medical programs. Tufts leaders said they considered the issue for more than a year before concluding it is inconsistent with the school's values to display the family's name. “We had to deal with the reality that the Sackler name has become associated with a health care epidemic. Given our medical school’s mission, we needed to reconcile that,” Peter Dolan, chairman of Tufts’ board of trustees, said in an interview. (12/5)
Bloomberg:
Tufts University To Remove Sackler Name From Medical School
Tufts announced in March that it had tapped former U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Donald Stern to lead an independent review of the university’s relationship to the Sackler family and Purdue Pharma. In a recently released 34-page report, Stern found no evidence that the family’s combined $15 million in contributions had influenced the university’s various programs. (Lorin and Griffin, 12/5)
The Washington Post:
Tufts Removes Sackler Name From Campus, Creates Endowment To Combat Addiction
The university is not returning money donated by the Sacklers; the gifts will continue to be used for their intended purposes, such as biomedical research. Tufts will create a $3 million endowment to support education, research and other efforts to prevent and treat addiction. It will also create an exhibit about the Sackler family’s history with Tufts, which began in the 1980s, long before OxyContin was introduced, and includes contributions from members of the family unconnected with the drug. (Svrluga, 12/5)
Stat:
Tufts Will Scour Sackler Name From Its Medical Campus
A number of museums and schools have announced this year they would no longer accept donations from the Sacklers. Tufts is going further, joining the Louvre, which in July removed the Sackler name from a wing, in scrubbing the family’s name. No longer will programs and facilities at its health sciences and medical school campus, located in downtown Boston, be named after the Sacklers, who along with Purdue have given roughly $15 million to Tufts since 1980. (Joseph, 12/5)
In other news on the epidemic —
Reuters:
New York Doctor Convicted Of Taking Kickbacks From Opioid Maker Insys
A New York doctor was convicted on Thursday of accepting thousands of dollars in bribes and kickbacks from Insys Therapeutics Inc in exchange for prescribing his patients an addictive fentanyl spray the drug manufacturer produced. Gordon Freedman was the fourth medical practitioner to face trial on charges stemming from what prosecutors say was a wide-ranging bribery scheme orchestrated by the now-bankrupt drugmaker that helped fuel the U.S. opioid epidemic. (12/5)
The Associated Press:
Doctor Among Painkiller's Top Dispensers Is Convicted
Prosecutors said Freedman in 2014 wrote the fourth-highest number of prescriptions for Subsys, a potent painkiller, while he was paid more than any other doctor in bribes. “Dr. Gordon Freedman sold out his patients by prescribing a powerful and dangerous fentanyl opioid in exchange for bribes from the pharmaceutical company that manufactured that drug,” U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said in a release. (12/5)
St. Louis Public Radio:
Opioid Deaths Hit Peak In St. Louis, With Other Drugs Gaining Ground
Nearly three people a day died from opioid overdoses in St. Louis last year, according to data released by the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse. There were 1,080 people who died from opioids in St. Louis and eight surrounding counties, up 30% from the year before. The 2018 count, released this week, marks the 12th consecutive year of rising drug-related fatalities in the region. (Fentem, 12/5)
Miami Herald:
Broward County Commission Green-Lights Needle Exchange
In the text of the ordinance authorizing a needle exchange in Broward County, commissioners ticked off a list of alarming public health statistics: 1,642 opioid overdoses in 2017, more than 21,000 people living with HIV, 387 heroin- and fentanyl-related deaths in 2018.Needle exchanges are designed to prevent the spread of infectious diseases among drug users by providing clean syringes and help reverse opioid overdoses by distributing naloxone directly to people who use drugs, as well as offering them access to other services like testing for hepatitis. (Conarck, 12/5)
The Advocate:
Livingston Parish Indefinitely Tables Needle Exchange Program Aimed At Curbing Disease Spread
Livingston Parish will not have a needle exchange program any time soon after the parish council decided unanimously to indefinitely table a proposal that would have paved the way for the state to operate such an initiative in the area. Needle exchange programs allow drug users to bring used syringes to a designated facility in exchange for a clean needle, with the intent to curb the spread of disease like HIV and hepatitis A and C. (Kennedy, 12/5)
