Number Crunch

McKinsey Will Pay $596 Million for Its Role in the Opioid Crisis

The vaunted consulting firm advised OxyContin’s maker on how to ‘turbocharge’ sales

$596 million: That’s the total amount consulting giant McKinsey has agreed to pay in three different settlements split between 49 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and five territories, the New York Times reported. This settles investigations into the company’s role advising opioid manufacturers — including OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma — to aggressively market painkillers, which helped fuel the opioid crisis that’s killed more than 450,000 Americans since 1999.

By agreeing to the settlements, which amounts to more than 5% of McKinsey’s global annual revenue, McKinsey will avert lawsuits from state attorneys general; only Nevada, which was not party to the agreements, will pursue its own investigation. In the next 60 days, states are owed a portion of the settlement worth $478 million, which they’ll use to fund opioid treatment, prevention, and recovery programs. McKinsey did not, however, admit wrongdoing, asserting that its consulting work — in which it advised pharmaceutical companies on how to “turbocharge” sales of opioids — was lawful. But the consulting firm did agree to make its documents related to opioid work…