Consulting firm McKinsey has agreed to pay $650m (£515m) to settle criminal charges related to its role in the US opioid crisis.
The company “knowingly and intentionally” conspired with pharmaceutical company Purdue Pharma to “facilitate and participate in the misuse of prescription drugs… without valid prescriptions”, according to the US Department of Justice.
McKinsey faces charges of conspiracy to abuse a drug and obstruction of justice. Prosecutors say it gave Purdue Pharma advice on how to “turbocharge” sales of OxyContin, the brand name for the painkiller oxycodone hydrochloride.
McKinsey apologized in a statement, saying “we should have appreciated the damage opioids have caused to our society”.
Former McKinsey senior partner Martin Elling will also plead guilty to preventing the destruction of records related to the case.
The U.S. Department of Justice said McKinsey entered into a deferred prosecution agreement that will expire in five years if conditions are met.
In the deferred prosecution agreement, prosecutors require a change of company, among other things, in exchange for a temporary suspension of prosecution. If the defendant complies, prosecutors can move to dismiss the charges.
McKinsey has already settled nearly $1bn (£792m) in lawsuits over its work with Purdue and other pharmaceutical companies.
Purdue Pharma itself pleaded guilty in 2020 to criminal charges relating to its role in the US opioid crisis in an $8.3bn (£6.6bn) settlement.
The pharmaceutical company admitted that it allowed the supply of the drug “without a legitimate medical purpose”.
Purdue Pharma introduced OxyContin in the mid-1990s. One study you got that in 2002, OxyContin accounted for 68% of oxycodone sales. Someone reported that abuse of OxyContin and hydrocodone, another commonly prescribed opioid, was the most common of the eight opioids in 2004.
Drug addiction and overdose deaths in the US have increased dramatically over the past three decades, first fueled by prescription opioids and later by the rise of heroin and synthetic opioids such as fentanyl.
About 100,000 people die every year from drug overdoses in the US. In the year to June 2024, 97,000 people died from drug overdoses – a 14% decrease from the previous year.
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