Prestigious universities around the world have accepted at least $60 million in donations over the past five years from the family that owns Purdue Pharma, even as the drugmaker became entangled in lawsuits related to the opioid epidemic.
While some of the donations arrived before recent lawsuits blaming Purdue Pharma for its role in the opioid crisis, at least nine schools accepted gifts in 2018 or later. Major beneficiaries of Sackler family foundations included the University of Oxford, Rockefeller, Cornell, Columbia, Imperial College London, the University of Sussex and Yale University.
According to USA Today, some schools have begun cutting ties with the Sackler family, but none plan to return the money. Most schools refused to say whether they would accept donations in the future.
Read the USA Today story