Summary
- Curtis Wright, a real person, was a symbol of corruption and regulatory malfeasance in the American pharmaceutical industry during the opioid crisis.
- The FDA issued a misleading label for OxyContin stating that it was believed to have reduced abuse potential, despite lacking ing evidence.
- After leaving the FDA, Wright ed Purdue Pharma in a high-level job, potentially implicating him in questionable practices.
The Curtis Wright Purdue Pharma character is a mysterious aspect in the Hulu series Dopesick's cast of characters but his name comes up repeatedly in conjunction with potential corruption and the FDA exec that rubber-stamped the aggressive marketing of OxyContin.
Curtis Wright was the FDA's deputy director overseeing anesthetics and addiction products during the time OxyContin was being approved. Focus fell on a special label issued by the FDA specifically for OxyContin which read “Delayed absorption as provided by OxyContin tablets is believed to reduce the abuse liability of a drug.” As depicted in Dopesick, this label was used by sales representatives to sell OxyContin as a treatment for moderate pain, to skeptical doctors like the one played by former Batman star Michael Keaton. However, Purdue had conducted no actual studies to this claim, and Wright knew it.
Did Curtis Wright Really Write Dopesick’s False Label?
In real life, the exact authorship of the label has been debated in court, with Purdue suggesting that the FDA added it of their own accord. Wright testified that he did not who wrote the label, but downplayed its significance, claiming, “The label makes an extremely weak statement about a class of drugs.” (via Marketplace) It is true that the statement uses plenty of hedging language, most notably "is believed to reduce," but its unusual nature was taken as evidence that the FDA had demonstrable proof that OxyContin was less addictive than traditional painkillers. It's the intentionally vague nature and careful wording of the label that led doctors to trust them.
Just two years after waving through OxyContin and the misleading label, despite zero evidence to it, Wright left the FDA and shortly afterward began working at Purdue Pharma in a high-level, six-figure job. In Dopesick, Ramseyer and Mountcastle learn this when another FDA employee explains that this is "the way it works," describing the common practice of people in the FDA and other government agencies leaving to work for the very companies they had once regulated. Whether there was an explicit quid pro quo agreement between Wright and Purdue Pharma is unclear but Wright reportedly made $400,000 in his first year at Purdue.
What People Really Know About Curtis Wright
Curtis Wright is as elusive a figure in real life as he is in Dopesick, with no confirmed photos of him available online and very few definitive biographical details. All that is known is that he currently works as a high-level consultant in the industry. Despite his relative anonymity now, his actions during and after his time at the FDA give credence to Dopesick's themes about how regulatory corruption and deceptive practices helped lead to America's opioid epidemic. It's awful to consider and he did terrible things but it does likely make Curtis Dopesick's smartest character.
How Accurately Does Dopesick Represent Its True Story?
Dopesick drew most of its information and inspiration from Beth Macy's book Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company That Addicted America. The book focuses on the opioid crisis and how it mainly affected mining communities in Appalachia. Its literary origin told the story from the perspective of small-town residents immersed in the crisis. The studio made sure to have a few Disney lawyers read over the content with a fine-toothed comb, and Disney has always been known for its formidable legal team. The reasoning behind such scrutiny comes from the Sackler Family and Purdue.
Both have a reputation as being extremely litigious, threatening lawsuits at the drop of the hat. Therefore, directors and producers needed to make sure that everything was completely factual and contained not a whiff of libel. While some of the main characters are fictitious, their stories still run parallel to those affected by the opioid epidemic. Curtis Wright is a very real person, despite such anonymity and his lack of online presence, as is the Sackler family who owns Purdue Pharma. Dopesick had to be approached with serious accuracy, lest anyone is hit with a lawsuit.
Curtis Wright Is Depicted In A 2023 Netflix Series
The Curtis Wright FDA controversy and his elusiveness have made it so very few people know what he looks like, which is part of why he wasn't shown in Dopesick. However, a 2023 Netflix series went a different route. Dopesick in that it tells a story about the real-life opioid crisis that rocked the United States. One of the biggest differences is that Wright is an actual character this time, portrayed by Noah Harpster. On top of that, Harpster also co-created Painkiller with Micah Fitzerman-Blue, so he was an ideal choice to bring this enigmatic person to life on screen.
