Activists and students are mounting pressure over Harvard University to cut its ties with the Sackler family.
A petition addressed to Harvard president Larry Bacow is advocating for the university to disaffiliate with the family and to stop to taking donations from them immediately. The petition has received more than 1,050 signatures as of Wednesday.
Last week, Massachusetts attorney general Maura Healey alleged in court documents that the family knew that the painkiller OxyContin made by their prescription drug company, Purdue Pharma, was causing overdoses, according to NPR.
Healey has implicated eight Sackler family members for contributing to the opioid epidemic across the nation by marketing it so aggressively.
Tufts University has also announced a review of its association with the Purdue Pharma Company.
“We will be undertaking a review of Tufts’ connection with Purdue to ensure that we were provided accurate information, that we followed our conflict-of-interest guidelines, and that we adhered to our principles of academic and research integrity,” Tufts spokesperson Patrick Collins told STAT news.