Big Pharma Pays-Big for Oxy

 

McKinsey's Gonna Need More Than a Spoonful of Sugar

 

Prominent consulting shop McKinsey & Co. has agreed to pay DC and most US states and territories $573 million for its role in the opioid epidemic—the first such nationwide settlement.  The allegations: In 2013, when the impacts of opioids and addiction were already well-documented, the firm advised OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma on how to "supercharge" sales by $100 million, including by targeting doctors who might have overprescribed opioids and by switching patients to more powerful doses.  Under the settlement, McKinsey admits no wrongdoing.  Most of the settlement money will head to treatment and rehab programs in areas hit hard by the epidemic, which has killed 400,000+ Americans. $15 million will be used to reimburse the National Association of Attorneys General for investigation costs.  The payout is larger than revenues the firm brought in advising opioid clients (a practice it stopped in 2019).   Zoom out: A wave of litigation that started in 2017 against companies linked to the opioid crisis is seeing results. Some pharma companies have reached settlements with individual states; Purdue Pharma agreed to pay the DOJ $8.3 billion; and Johnson & Johnson and three drug distributors are in negotiations for another multistate settlement worth $26 billion.