McKinsey No Longer Consulting for Purdue, Ends Opioid Work

(Bloomberg) -- McKinsey & Co. said it is no longer working with drugmaker Purdue Pharma LP and will stop all other work related to the sale of the pain pills that have been blamed for an epidemic of U.S. abuse and death.

“We are no longer advising clients on any opioid-specific business and are continuing to support key stakeholders working to combat the crisis,” the storied consulting firm said in a statement.

The relationship between the opioid giant and McKinsey goes back at least a decade, according to a lawsuit filed in state court earlier this year by the Massachusetts Attorney General. The lawsuit describes how Purdue executives worked with McKinsey consultants to increase sales of OxyContin, Purdue’s signature painkiller.

Tens of thousands of people have died from opioid overdoes in the U.S. in an epidemic that has lasted for more than a decade. In more than a thousand lawsuits filed by states and local governments, Purdue has been a target for the blame, facing accusations that it lied about the risks of OxyContin while pushing the drug to more and more patients.

Purdue declined to comment immediately after business hours on Thursday. The company had already scaled back promotion of the drug, letting go of sales representatives and halting promotion of opioids to doctors.

McKinsey consults to some of the world’s biggest businesses. Founded in 1926, it has 30,000 people working around the globe, according to its website. Earlier Thursday, Reuters reported that the bank JPMorgan Chase & Co. was also no longer working with Purdue.

Opioid Promotion

McKinsey, too, has faced questions about its ties to the Stamford, Connecticut-based drugmaker and the wealthy Sackler family that has made billions of dollars from sales of the pills. In the Massachusetts lawsuit, McKinsey was accused of advising Purdue to push back against moves by companies and governments that would have reduced opioid sales, and pitching a project to “turbocharge” sales.

McKinsey’s decision to end consulting on opioids came in part because of the lawsuit, which prompted a review of opioid-related work the firm had done, according to a person familiar with the matter. The firm had done work for several other companies on opioids, said the person.

Purdue, meanwhile, faces an existential threat to its business. It has said it may file for bankruptcy as a way to contain its liability from the lawsuits. A bankruptcy filing would likely pause claims against the company and turn them over to a bankruptcy judge to adjudicate.

To contact the reporter on this story: Drew Armstrong in New York at darmstrong17@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Drew Armstrong at darmstrong17@bloomberg.net, Jeff Sutherland

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