Painkiller True Story & 6 Biggest Changes Netflix Makes In The Opioid Crisis Series

While based on a true story, the Netflix series Painkiller changes major details that impact the overall perception of Purdue Pharma and the opioid crisis. Painkiller follows the rise and fall of the opioid OxyContin, depicting the deceptive marketing practices of its parent company Purdue Pharma, as led by the Sackler family. The series is a fictionalization of events and is inspired by three pieces of media: Patrick Radden Keefe’s New Yorker article “The Family That Built an Empire of Pain,” his book Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty, and Barry Meir’s Pain Killer: An Empire of Deceit and The Origin of America’s Opioid Epidemic.