McKinsey and Company has agreed to pay $78 million to cover some or all costs from an addiction crisis over prescription opioids, according to an AP News report.
The agreement, revealed on Friday in documents filed in federal court in San Francisco, indicates that McKinsey will establish a fund to reimburse insurers, private benefit plans, and others, for some or all of their costs in relation to their prescription opioids. The documents are awaiting the approval of a judge.
According to the report, the insurers argued McKinsey worked with Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of OxyContin, to employ aggressive marketing and sales tactics to overcome doctors’ reservations over the highly addictive drugs. As a result, insurers were reportedly forced to pay for prescription opioids rather than safer, non-addictive and lower-cost drugs. In addition, they claim they had to pay for the opioid addiction treatment that followed.
The US Centers for Disease Control said that, between 1999 and 2021, around 280,000 people died in the US due to overdoses from prescription opioids. In 2021, McKinsey agreed to pay nearly $600 million to US states, the District of Columbia, and five US territories. In September 2023, the firm agreed to pay $230 million in a separate settlement with school districts and local governments.
McKinsey maintained its statement with regard to the recent settlement agreement. “As we have stated previously, we continue to believe that our past work was lawful and deny allegations to the contrary,” the company told AP News. It emphasized it reached a settlement to avoid protracted litigation.
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