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# Hulu Series on Oxycontin Hits Hard, Goes Easy on FDA
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/hulu-series-on-oxycontin-hits-hard-goes-easy-on-fda/
- Published: 2021-10-27T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T17:20:28.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Drugs, #legacy-id-D5150454

\[*Review by Jim Dickinson\]* “[Dopesick](https://www.hulu.com/series/dopesick-227de06a-d3d4-42e0-9df1-bb5495e1738d?ref=fdaweb.com),” a compelling and hard-hitting, eight-part Hulu series on Purdue Pharma’s Oxycontin that was launched this month lambastes the company but goes easy on FDA while nevertheless charging that it corruptly relaxed the drug’s labeling without science. Unique among opioids, this was a green light for the company, now closed and in bankruptcy, to do what it did. That included hiring the deciding FDA official, **Curtis Wright**, for a reported $400,000.

Hulu cites a sworn deposition referenced in **Patrick Radden Keefe**’s [*Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty*](https://www.amazon.com/Empire-Pain-History-Sackler-Dynasty/dp/0385545681?ref=fdaweb.com) in which Wright confessed that he “might” have written the portion of the FDA package insert that said OxyContin was “believed to reduce the abuse liability of the drug.” This, the series says, was accompanied by FDA-approved doubling of Oxycontin’s dosing to once every 12 hours when it barely lasted eight hours, virtually licensing the epidemic that was to follow, based on the falsehood that Oxycontin had less than a 1% addiction rate.

Why Wright wasn’t investigated isn’t explained in the series, nor does it even name the official on whose desk his alleged malfeasance should have landed: then CDER director **Janet Woodcock**, now acting commissioner, though she is shown (namelessly) rebuffing a DEA delegation seeking regulatory restriction of Oxycontin at the epidemic’s peak. The series’ soft-pedaling on FDA’s inaction was mirrored at the time on Capitol Hill. According to a 2012 *Salem News* (SC) report, [Wright was mysteriously not included](http://www.salem-news.com/articles/august052012/oxycontin-experts-ms.php?ref=fdaweb.com) in a Senate investigation of the “prescription drug epidemic” that actually concentrated on Oxycontin.

An enigmatic figure, the secretive Wright apparently did not stay long at Purdue. FDA’s cavernous but clunky Web site has no readily discoverable record of him. Purdue reportedly “let him go” shortly afterward and he is now vaguely said to be consulting in the pharmaceutical industry.

The Hulu series’ villain is [**Richard Stephen Sackler**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard%5FSackler?ref=fdaweb.com), son of Purdue’s then-president, who developed Oxycontin into the biggest blockbuster drug in U.S. medical history. He is depicted as something of a loner, widely disliked by associates and obsessed with increasing the drug’s market share by any feasible means, including unsubstantiated data from Purdue-paid sources. Sackler’s character blames Oxycontin’s soaring addiction and crime rates on the addicts themselves and their doctors; he recruits rogue pharmaceutical “experts” who advocate increased dosages as the cure for addiction.

The success of this strategy is seen in the fate of the series’ central good guy, played to perfection by 70-year-old **Michael Keaton**: flattered and deceived by a slick young Purdue detailman on Sackler’s script, he evolves from a skeptical and objective Virginia coal town doctor to an addict himself, hooked on 400 mg of Oxycontin a day who has hooked much of his community on it too.

The series’ heroes are a sorely under-resourced team of U.S. district attorneys and a DEA agent who, though late on the scene, labor tirelessly with antiquated office equipment to build a case against the company’s refusal to cooperate, ultimately convincing a judge to order surrender of critical Purdue internal records. That breaks the case wide open, and the rest is history.

If I were awarding stars, I’d give it five out of five but for one failing. Its author, [journalist **Beth Macy**](Its%20producers’%20excuse%20would%20probably%20be%20that%20this%20is%20still%20playing%20out%20on%20Capitol%20Hill%20–%20which%20in%20my%20mind%20would%20be%20a%20betrayal%20of%20the%20First%20Amendment.%20Freedom%20of%20the%20Press%20was%20not%20enshrined%20in%20the%20Constitution%20to%20allow%20the%20press%20to%20simply%20tag%20along%20behind%20government%20processes,%20feasting%20on%20what%20those%20processes%20produce.%20It%20was%20enshrined%20to%20keep%20government%20honest,%20which%20so%20far%20it%20has%20not%20been%20in%20this%20and%20other%20scandals.%20The%20FDA%20official%20who%20approved%20Oxycontin’s%20lenient%20relabeling%20and%20then%20went%20to%20work%20for%20Purdue,%20and%20his%20superiors%20who%20apparently%20did%20nothing%20about%20that%20for%20too%20long%20all%20should%20be%20pilloried%20by%20name%20in%20the%20media.%20Of%20course,%20the%20media%20can%20truthfully%20plead%20that%20their%20financial%20abandonment%20in%20corporate%20takeovers%20and%20the%20invasion%20of%20social%20media%20has%20effectively%20defunded%20the%20kind%20of%20investigative%20journalism%20that%20once%20would%20have%20done%20that.), didn’t blame FDA nearly enough for the Oxycontin catastrophe. Its producers’ excuse would probably be that this is still playing out on Capitol Hill and in the courts – which in my mind would be a betrayal of the First Amendment. Freedom of the press was not enshrined in the Constitution to allow the press to simply tag along behind government processes, feasting on what those processes produce. It was enshrined to keep government honest, which so far it has not been in this and other scandals. Curtis Wright, the FDA official who approved Oxycontin’s lenient relabeling and then went to work for Purdue, and his FDA superiors who apparently did nothing about that for too long, all should be pilloried by name in the media. Of course, the media can truthfully plead that their financial abandonment in corporate takeovers and the invasion of social media has effectively defunded the kind of investigative journalism that once would have done that.