Burned in Tobacco Deal, Cities in Drug Fight Target McKinsey
- Company says state deals end cases over role in opioid crisis
- Municipalities, tribes sue for their own compensation claims
Massachusetts in 2019 claimed McKinsey advised Purdue Pharma LP how to “turbocharge” sales of its OxyContin painkiller at a time when the legitimate market for the highly addictive pills was shrinking.
Photographer: Michael Williamson/The The Washington Post/Getty Images
U.S. cities and counties are increasingly at odds with their own state governments over how to divvy up $641.5 million that consulting firm McKinsey & Co. has offered to settle its liability for work with the opioid industry.
In the past two months, McKinsey reached final agreements with all 50 states to resolve lawsuits claiming it helped boost sales of the addictive drugs. But since then, more than 20 cities, counties and Native American tribes have sued the consultant, hoping for their own payouts. Local governments in New York even sought to block the state’s pact with McKinsey because it would harm their separate suits against the firm.