International consulting firm McKinsey & Company agreed Friday to resolve criminal charges with federal prosecutors in two states for its role in helping Purdue Pharma boost sales of OxyContin and other opioid painkillers, fueling an addiction epidemic.
McKinsey agreed to pay $650 million as part of a deferred prosecution agreement, according to court documents filed Friday.
As part of the agreement, McKinsey will “not do any work related to the marketing, sale, promotion or distribution of controlled substances” and will not contest the facts of the government’s criminal charges.
Those agreed-upon facts said McKinsey “knew the risks and dangers associated with OxyContin” but “designed strategies to help Purdue Pharma” to “turbocharge” OxyContin prescriptions.
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“This included a strategy to identify which current OxyContin prescribers would likely generate the greatest number of additional prescriptions if called on by Purdue Pharma’s sales force,” court records said.