Oxford University And King's College Join Dozens Of UK Institutions Spurning Sackler Family Opioid Billions

King’s College London is the latest UK institution to sever all ties with the billionaire Sackler family amid outrage over its role in the deadly opioid epidemic in the U.S. that, as of 2021, has claimed the lives of more than 106,000 people. 

The move comes several days after Oxford University confirmed that it was also ending its lucrative funding arrangements with the Sackler family and removing its name from buildings, galleries and positions funded through their donations.

The two prestigious British universities are following similar moves already undertaken by the British Museum and Serpentine Gallery in London, the Louvre in Paris and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Chris Garrard, a co-director of the campaign Culture Unstained, said: “With King’s College now severing its ties to the tarnished Sackler name, it has joined a near wholesale rejection of the family’s toxic philanthropy in the UK, one that has unfolded over just a few years as Nan Goldin and others shone a spotlight on the harmful ways Purdue’s profits were made.”

Nan Goldin, a celebrated American photographer, waged a campaign against Purdue Pharma in 2018 after she became addicted to oxycodone, which she’d been prescribed for pain dueto tendonitis of her wrist. She led high-profile protests at the Sackler Wing of NY's Metropolitan Museum of Art demanding that museums and other cultural institutions not accept money from the Sacklers. 

The Billionaire Family

Sackler family members own the now-bankrupt Purdue Pharma, which manufactured OxyContin, which fueled the current opioid epidemic. Purdue Pharma, through a massive and misleading advertising campaign, sought to convince patients and physicians alike that Oxy was not addictive. Hulu's 'Dopesick' series tells the story of the opioid crisis in the U.S. between 1996 and 2007, which series creator Danny Strong called “one of the greatest crimes in the history of the United States” perpetrated by the Sackler family. 

Nearly every U.S. state has sued Purdue Pharma for its aggressive marketing and playing down of OxyContin's addictiveness. Purdue essentially responded by declaring bankruptcy.

More UK Institutions Pull Away From The Sacklers

The British-based charity, the Sackler Trust supports 17 UK organizations, all of which were contacted by The Guardian to clarify if they are still accepting Sackler cash. Thirteen responded that they’d recently cut ties with the Sackler money while at least three, Ballet Black, the Prison Education Trust and the Spitalfield Crypt Trust asked the Sackler Trust to remove their name from their websites.

This past week, the UK’s Royal Opera House also removed the Sackler family name from its website.