McKinsey to Pay $78 Million to Settle Lawsuit Accusing It of Helping Fuel the Opioid Epidemic
themessenger.com
US health insurers and benefit plans alleged the consulting giant's work for drug makers prompted them to pay for opioids instead of non-addictive and cheaper drugs

U.S. health insurers and benefit plans alleged the consulting giant’s work for drug makers prompted them to pay for opioids instead of non-addictive and cheaper drugs

Consulting firm McKinsey & Company has agreed to pay $78 million to settle a lawsuit brought by health insurers and benefit plans over its involvement in the nation’s opioid addiction epidemic.

The proposed settlement was filed in a federal California court on Friday and resolved claims by the plaintiffs that McKinsey strategized and acted with opioid makers, including Purdue, to create and execute marketing and sales strategies to “maximize opioid revenue.”

The original lawsuit was filed by third-party payers such as private benefit plans, multi-employer pension plans and commercial insurers. They alleged these strategies harmed them by prompting them to pay for prescription opioids instead of safer, non-addictive and cheaper drugs, as well as the “addiction-related treatment that followed.”

McKinsey did not admit to any wrongdoing in the settlement. In a statement shared with The Messenger, the firm said “we continue to believe that our past work was lawful.”

  • Bakkoda@sh.itjust.works
    30·
    1 year ago

    It is. I got to bear witness to this groups sham business consulting at Mallinckrodt. They are a huge proponent of overly lean manufacturing calling it “agile” when in reality it’s just artificial scarcity by a really poor made to order business model. Lower overhead (people and wip/stock supply) and increase prices.

    They also make lots of money off this bullshit and should be barred from doing business in any FDA/DEA controlled environment.

    • Chapelgentry@lemmy.world
      15·
      1 year ago

      Real talk here. My company used McKinsey in the utilities sector and they were paid millions to come in and lean out our processes. The result was that half of the consultants got moved to other projects, our internal processes got fucked with no clear improvement, and McKinsey walked away with millions. Their biggest contribution was death by PowerPoint.