The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, a health policy advisory group that helped shape the federal response to the opioid crisis, accepted donations totaling roughly $19 million from the Sackler family, owners of Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, the New York Times reports.

While other institutions have publicly distanced themselves from Sackler family money or made efforts to acknowledge potential conflicts of interest from ties to Purdue Pharma, the National Academies has not conducted a public review to determine if the Sackler donations influenced its policy making, despite issuing two major reports that affected national opioid policy, including one released in 2011 and now largely discredited, claiming that 100 million Americans suffered from chronic pain—an estimate that proved to be highly inflated.

National Academies spokesperson Megan Lowry said in a statement that the Sackler donations “were never used to support any advisory activities on the use of opioids or on efforts to counter the opioid crisis,” and added that the organization had been prevented from returning the Sackler money due to legal restrictions and “donor unwillingness to accept returned funds.”

Chartered by Abraham Lincoln in 1863 to serve as an independent advisor to the nation on science and medicine, the National Academies is a nongovernmental institution with members elected each year. While 70 percent of the institution’s budget comes from federal funding, the remainder comes from its endowment and private donors. Dame Jillian Sackler began contributing to the institution in 2000, giving $5 million through 2017. Dr. Raymond Sackler and his wife, Beverly, and their foundation began contributing in 2008, eventually giving a total of $14 million, according to the National Academies’ treasurer reports. Through investments, Sackler donations to the institution are now valued at more than $31 million, about 4 percent of its overall endowment. The National Academies continues to advise the government on painkillers.

“I didn’t know they were taking private money,” Michael Von Korff, a prominent pain care researcher, told the Times. “It sounds like insanity to take money from principals of drug companies and then do reports related to opioids. I am really shocked.”

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