Consulting firm McKinsey agrees to $78 million settlement with insurance companies over opioids

Consulting firm McKinsey & Company has agreed to pay $78 million to resolve claims from insurance companies and health funds that its collaboration with drug companies helped fuel the opioid addiction crisis.

The agreement was revealed late Friday in documents filed in federal court in San Francisco. The settlement still must be approved by a judge.

Under the agreement, McKinsey will establish a fund to reimburse insurance companies, private benefit plans and others for some or all of the costs of prescription opioids.

Insurers say McKinsey is working with Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, to develop and employ aggressive marketing and sales strategies to overcome physician resistance to the highly addictive drug. claimed to have done so. Insurers said this forced them to pay for prescribed opioids instead of safer, less addictive and less expensive drugs, such as over-the-counter painkillers. He also had to pay for treatment for his subsequent opioid addiction.

From 1999 to 2021, approximately 280,000 people died from prescription opioid overdoses in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The insurers argued that McKinsey continued to work with Purdue Pharma even after the extent of the opioid crisis became clear.

The settlement is the latest in a long line of efforts to hold McKinsey accountable for its role in the opioid epidemic. In February 2021, the company agreed to pay nearly $600 million to U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories. In September, the company separately announced a $230 million settlement agreement with school districts and local governments.

Asked for comment on Saturday, McKinsey referred to a statement it issued in September.

“As we have previously stated, the company continues to believe that its past operations were lawful and denies any claims to the contrary,” the company said, adding that the settlement was reached to avoid protracted litigation. added.

McKinsey said it stopped advising clients on opioid-related business in 2019.