The US Department of Justice is conducting a criminal investigation into consulting firm McKinsey for its past advising of opioid manufacturers. The investigation centers around suspicions that the firm helped increase sales for these manufacturers by providing consulting services.
McKinsey has declined to comment on the investigation, but the criminal investigation is focusing on the consulting advice provided by McKinsey to drugmakers like Purdue, Endo International, and Mallinckrodt. These consulting services led to civil lawsuits against McKinsey in the past for its alleged role in exacerbating opioid addiction.
In recent years, McKinsey reached a settlement with all 50 states in the US, along with Washington, D.C., and five U.S. territories to pay $642 million without admitting wrongdoing for its role in the opioid crisis. The company also reached agreements totaling $347 million with public schools, insurance companies, and more. McKinsey has maintained that it was helping the legal use of opioids and patients with legitimate medical needs.
The pharmaceutical companies that McKinsey advised have faced mass lawsuits for allegedly fueling addiction through deceptive marketing practices. For instance, McKinsey’s recommendations to Purdue included strategies to increase OxyContin sales such as targeting high-volume prescribers and reducing time spent on low-volume prescribers.
McKinsey stopped working with opioid-specific businesses in 2019, and the company has stated that its work for Purdue was aimed at supporting legal opioid use. However, the consequences of the firm’s actions have had far-reaching impacts on public health and the legal landscape surrounding opioids in the country. Overall, McKinsey’s role in advising pharmaceutical companies on increasing opioid sales has come under scrutiny as part of a larger investigation into the opioid crisis in the United States.
Federal prosecutors are looking into whether McKinsey or its employees obstructed legal proceedings related to its consulting services to opioid manufacturers. A grand jury has been empaneled in Virginia as part of the federal investigation which is being conducted by U.S Attorney’s Offices for Western District of Virginia and District of Massachusetts.
In conclusion, this criminal investigation highlights how consulting firms can be complicit in perpetuating harmful behaviors such as increased sales of addictive drugs like opioids through their advice to drugmakers