Global business consultancy McKinsey & Company agreed to a $ 573 million deal on its role in advising companies on how to “overwhelm” opioid sales in the midst of an overdose crisis, a person with knowledge of the business told the Associated Press on Wednesday.
The person was not allowed to speak publicly about the deal before Thursday’s planned announcement and lawsuits in 47 states, the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories.
McKinsey did not immediately respond to an AP call or e-mail on Wednesday night.
Without naming McKinsey, attorneys general in at least North Carolina and West Virginia scheduled announcements for Thursday morning about the opioid crisis. And Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in a statement that the state would present a consent decree on Thursday involving McKinsey “that will result in corporate reforms and more than $ 13 million for Washington state for treatment. opioids, prevention and recovery efforts ”. Ferguson said this was separated from the multistate agreement.
Most of the money from the national settlement, which was first reported by The New York Times, would be sent to states in less than a year and used to ease the national overdose crisis. Prescribed and illegal opioids, such as heroin and illicit fentanyl combined, have been associated with the deaths of more than 470,000 Americans since 2000. And the epidemic has deepened amid the coronavirus pandemic.
State and local governments have filed lawsuits in recent years against companies that manufacture and sell opioids prescribed for their role in the crisis. But going after a consulting firm is a new wrinkle in litigation.
McKinsey provided documents used in lawsuits related to OxyContin’s manufacturer Purdue Pharma, including some describing its efforts to help the company try to “overwhelm” opioid sales in 2013, as the reaction to the overdose crisis was affecting the prescription.
Documents made public in Purdue’s proceedings last year include emails between McKinsey. One from 2008, a year after the company pleaded guilty to opiate-related crimes, says board members, including a member of the Sackler family, “’blessed him’ to do whatever he thinks is necessary to ‘save the business'”.
Purdue is in a bankruptcy court to try to resolve the lawsuits against her. The company has proposed a deal that could be worth $ 10 billion over time. The company also pleaded guilty last year to criminal charges in part of an agreement with the federal government. Purdue and members of the Sackler family, owners of the company, agreed to pay $ 225 million to the United States government as part of the deal.
A group of the largest drug distribution companies and pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson are also working on a national agreement.