I listened to this on Audible.

This book is astonishingly well researched and highly readable, with a strong narrative drive.

Beginning with the humble roots of the three Sackler brothers Arthur, Raymond and Mortimer, doctors who appeared initially to want to improve the health outcomes for patients they worked with, Empire of Pain charts the steady rise and ultimately the corruption of the Sackler dynasty, first through the creation of Valium and later through the sale of the highly addictive Oxycontin.

Nothing in this book surprised me, having recently watched a documentary about the same subject, told from the perspective of some of the victims.

The book carefully and cleverly demonstrates the relationship that Arthur forged between the world of science and medicine and the world of aggressive marketing practices. It outlines Arthur's predilection for secrecy and operating under layers of obfuscation which paved the way for his family to distance themselves from their own company, Purdue Pharma, which engaged in immoral marketing tactics, bribery of government officials, fabrication of medical studies and concealment of suspicious prescribing practices which largely contributed to the opiod crisis in the US. This distancing allowed the Sacklers and future generations to distance themselves from these practices and they were widely known as philanthropists whose names have graced some of the worlds most revered cultural institutions.

If you don't know anything about this subject, I implore you to read this. It's shocking, enlightening and highly readable