From One World Trade Center in Manhattan, this is the New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of the New Yorker and WNYC Studios.

Welcome to The New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Remnick. Go to any of the great museums of the world, and you'll notice the name of the Sackler family.

The Sacklers have donated museum wings, whole museums even, and they've funded

cancer research, medical schools, a long list of things. But in recent weeks, some of these

institutions have said that they are no longer taking donations from the Sacklers. That's because

members of the Sackler family own Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin.

Oxicontin was first advertised as a breakthrough, an opioid that would manage pain better

and would actually reduce the potential for drug addiction.

Two decades later, I hardly need to tell you, Oxycontin is a name that's become infamous as one of the

drivers of an opioid epidemic that has now cost over 200,000 lives. Dozens of lawsuits have been

filed. Just last week, Purdue Pharma settled with the state of Oklahoma for $270 million in damages.

The New Yorker's Patrick Raddenkief has reported extensively on the company, and one of the people he spoke to was a former sales rep, a whistleblower who saw

deep problems with Purdue's marketing of the drug. Stephen May started there in 1999 as sales of Oxycontin were booming. Patrick spoke with him

in 2017. Tell me, for starters, how did you first come to get into pharmaceutical sales?

Well, actually, I actually had a neighbor that lived near me back in the late 90s,

who was a pharmaceutical sales representative. And I saw that he had a really successful career.

And, you know, it was something that I personally wanted to get into. I mean, I knew that the

economic benefit was pretty good. So he helped me to get into. I mean, I knew that the economic benefit was pretty good. So

he helped me to get in with his company, which I did in in 1998 and started working for a company

that actually sold a combination opioid. So I was in the market of produce. I was very familiar with the Oxycontin product before even joining Purdue and knowing the growth that they were having when there was an opportunity to join, you know, what was perceived to be the best company to work for in the industry.

I basically jumped at it.

And where were you exactly? Like, what region were you in?

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