by: access point
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JERUSALEM (AP) — Tel Aviv University announced Wednesday that it has removed the Sackler family from the full name of its medical school after decades of donations from the makers of OxyContin.
The move came after years of petitions to remove the names of veteran donors from campus, while the Sacklers faced lengthy lawsuits for their role in the opioid epidemic.
Last month, a US court approved a plan for the maker of OxyContin to settle thousands of legal claims related to the opioid epidemic while protecting Purdue Pharma’s billionaire owners, the Sackler family, from further lawsuits.
The university said that “the Sackler family has graciously agreed to remove their name from the School of Medicine” to allow new donors the opportunity to put their name on it, while “graciously acknowledging the multi-decade contributions of the Sackler family”. .”
The Sacklers have been donors to the university for 50 years, he said. According to an Associated Press investigation in 2019, the Sackler family had donated millions to academic institutions, including hundreds of thousands of dollars to Tel Aviv University, even as they faced increasing scrutiny for helping fuel the opioid crisis in the United States. .
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