EVERY CATASTROPHE HAS A BEGINNING. FOR THE OPIOID CRISIS IN AMERICA, THE SEED WAS A DRUG CALLED OXYCONTIN.

First hailed as a miracle drug for severe pain in the early 1990s, OxyContin went on to ignite a plague of addiction and death across America, fuelled by the aggressive marketing of its maker, Purdue Pharma and the billionaire Sackler brothers who owned the company. Investigative journalist Barry Meier was the first to write about the elusive Sackler family, their role in this catastrophic epidemic and the army of local doctors, law enforcement and worried parents that tried to bring them down.

We meet the teenager proud of being the youngest Oxy user she knows at just 16, the local doctor who witnesses his community in the grip of a ferocious epidemic, the three billionaire Sackler brothers, and the government official who made it her mission to hold the company to account.

'Groundbreaking . . . Pain Killer is the shocking account of the origins of today's opioid epidemic, the creators of this plague, and the way to help stop it' Sam Quinones, author of Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic

'This is the book that started it all. Barry Meier is a heroic reporter and Pain Killer is a muckraking classic' Patrick Radden Keefe, author of Empire of Pain

'Fascinating' New York Times