Add new company: [Purdue Pharmaceutical]

[LarsDu]

Fitting with my previous post, it might be interesting to point out some less wholesome (non-tech company) pivots

Company Name?
Purdue Pharmaceuticals

What's the company main business today?
Bankrupt, but at its peak, the company made billions by selling highly addictive opioids to unassuming Americans leading to tens of thousands of deaths.

What did the company do in the early days?
Founded in 1892 by by medical doctors John Purdue Gray and George Frederick Bingham, the company originally sold earwax removers and laxatives.

What caused the company to pivot?
The company was purchased by the Sackler brothers 60 years after its founding. The brothers used the company to distribute and promote opiate derivatives such as Oxycontin.

Source?
https://www.jstor.org/stable/45345199
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/30/the-family-that-built-an-empire-of-pain
https://westfaironline.com/health-care/dr-raymond-sackler-co-owner-purdue-pharma-dies-97/