IL AG Settles With Consulting Firm For $573M Over Opioid Role

ILLINOIS — In the first multistate settlement to benefit states' efforts to address the opioid epidemic, Illinois and 52 other U.S. states and territories have reached a $573 million agreement to end an investigation into the consulting firm McKinsey & Company's role in the crisis.

The company is accused of helping opioid manufacturers push their drugs onto vulnerable populations by lobbying physicians and pharmacies to circumvent regulations. After states launched an investigation, company executives are accused of deleting emails and destroying documents.

“The opioid epidemic has devastated communities and families throughout Illinois and across the country,” Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said. “McKinsey’s actions helped opioid manufacturers maximize profits, often at the expense of the health and safety of the public. Today’s settlement will hold McKinsey accountable for its role in perpetuating the opioid epidemic, but, even more significantly, will provide much-needed assistance in combating the epidemic’s effects. I will continue to investigate and hold accountable the companies that have contributed to and profited from this public health crisis.”

Illinois will receive $19.8 million of the settlement, which it will use for opioid education and prevention programs, access to care, criminal justice diversion programs, and training and access to naloxone to prevent overdoses.

In addition to the half-billion dollar settlement, McKinsey told state prosecutors it will disclose tens of thousands of internal documents detailing its work for drug companies like Purdue Pharma. The company will implement a strict ethics code and stop advising companies that manufacture narcotics.

"The settlement ... outlines how McKinsey contributed to the opioid crisis by providing marketing schemes and consulting services to opioid manufacturers, including OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, for over a decade," the AG's office said in a statement. "The filings detail how McKinsey advised Purdue on how to maximize profits from sales of its opioid products, including by targeting high-volume opioid prescribers, using specific messaging to get physicians to prescribe more OxyContin to more patients, and circumventing pharmacy restrictions in order to deliver high-dose prescriptions."

Lawsuits filed by Raoul in 2019 against several opioid manufacturers, including Purdue Pharma and members of the Sackler family that owns it, are still pending.

Purdue Pharma is accused of "carrying out aggressive and misleading marketing campaigns to increase prescriptions of opioid painkillers as communities throughout Illinois and across the country faced an opioid addiction epidemic," according to the AG's office. Members of the Sackler family are accused of directing and approving Purdue's role in the epidemic, including "unfair and deceptive marketing" that led to over-prescription, misuse and abuse of the drugs.

Anyone who is addicted or knows someone who is addicted to opioids can get help by calling the Illinois Helpline for Opioids and Other Substances at 833-2FindHelp, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.