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Consulting firm McKinsey & Co has agreed to pay $ 573 million to resolve claims from more than 40 U.S. states regarding its role in the opioid epidemic and advice it gave the manufacturer of OxyContin Purdue Pharma, according to a person familiar with the subject.
The deal is with 43 states, the District of Columbia and three territories, the person said on Wednesday.
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Attorneys General of Vermont and North Carolina issued separate press releases, saying there would be announcements about the opioid epidemic on Thursday.
McKinsey did not respond to a request for comment.
Vermont Attorney General TJ Donovan said he would announce on Thursday the state’s participation in the first multi-state opioid deal “to result in a substantial payment to states to deal with the epidemic”. His office did not provide further information.
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McKinsey had already been investigated for its role in advising Purdue Pharma and the wealthy Sackler family, which owns the drugmaker.
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey in a lawsuit said McKinsey advised the Sacklers on how to “boost” opioid sales.
Purdue filed for bankruptcy in 2019 as part of a proposed $ 10 billion deal that would settle thousands of lawsuits claiming that the pharmaceutical’s painkiller marketing helped fuel the opioid epidemic.
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More than 3,200 lawsuits across the country are pending to hold drug makers, distributors and pharmacies responsible for an opioid addiction epidemic that, according to U.S. government data, resulted in 450,000 overdose deaths from 1999 to 2018.
The lawsuits accuse drug makers of misleading opioids and distributors of ignoring the warning signs that indicate that prescribed painkillers are being diverted to misuse. They deny transgressions.
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State and local governments are also in negotiations for deals with drug distributors Cardinal Health Inc, McKesson Corp and Amerisourcebergen Corp and pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond, Rama Venkat and Eric Beech; Editing by Leslie Adler)