Sept 26 (Reuters) – Consulting firm McKinsey & Co has agreed to pay $230 million to settle claims by hundreds of U.S. local governments and school districts that it helped fuel an epidemic of opioid addiction through work for bankrupt OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP and other drugmakers.
The settlements were disclosed in documents filed Tuesday in federal court in San Francisco and require a judge’s approval. The money is on top of $641.5 million McKinsey has already paid to resolve claims by state attorneys general.
Under the agreements, the company will pay $207 million to resolve county and municipal claims and an additional $23 million to resolve public school district claims. The company admits no wrongdoing as part of the settlements.
McKinsey previously said it had agreed to settle the cases, but did not disclose for how much. In a statement, the company said it continues to believe its past work was lawful. It also noted that it had previously pledged to stop advising clients on opioid-related deals globally in 2019.
Thousands of lawsuits have been filed by states, local governments and Native American tribes accusing drugmakers of downplaying the risks of opioid painkillers and distributors and pharmacies of ignoring red flags that they were being illegally trafficked.
