" McKinsey agrees $573m opioid settlement in US", 4 February 2021

McKinsey has agreed to pay $573m (£419m) to resolve claims it faced across the US related to its role fuelling America's opioid epidemic.

The consulting firm was under investigation for its work with Purdue Pharma, which aimed to boost sales of the addictive Oxycontin painkiller.

McKinsey maintained that its past work was "lawful" and denied wrongdoing...

Prosecutors said McKinsey had worked on strategies to "turbocharge" Oxycontin sales, advising Purdue to increase sales calls to doctors known to be high prescribers and to "subvert" restrictions on higher dosages that authorities wanted to impose...

The settlement resolves probes brought by 47 states, five territories and the District of Columbia. The money is to be used to fund drug treatment and other measures aimed at addressing the crisis.

McKinsey said it had also reached separate agreements with two other states, bringing the total payout to nearly $600m...

As part of the deal announced on Thursday, McKinsey "reaffirmed" a 2019 pledge to not take on any advisory work related to opioids and said it would help to release documents to the public related to its earlier work.