Alaska will receive more than $1 million from a multistate settlement with a consulting firm over its role in exacerbating the opioid crisis across the country, the Alaska Department of Law announced.
The consulting firm McKinsey & Company, which advised Purdue Pharma and other opioid companies, was the subject of a settlement agreement signed with attorneys general of 47 states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories for $537 million for its role in “turbocharging” the opioid crisis, the law department said in a news release.
“The opioid epidemic has led to extensive harm to Alaskans and our communities over the last 20 years,” said Alaska attorney general Treg Taylor in the news release. “Alaska has faced significant challenges and costs associated with this epidemic in the form of health care, child welfare, criminal justice, and many other programs needed to lessen the epidemic. On the social level, opioid addiction, abuse, and overdose deaths have torn families apart, damaged relationships, and eroded the social fabric of communities.”
[Opioid crisis still cuts deep in Alaska]
McKinsey’s role in manufacturing the crisis was involved in its promoting marketing strategies to opioid manufacturers for more than a decade, according to the Department of Law.
The agreement also calls for McKinsey to retain internal records covering its work for Purdue and other opioid manufacturers for public disclosure, ceasing the further destruction of internal documents, and continuing the investigation that two partner companies destroyed documents in response to investigations into Purdue to protect themselves.
The settlement also includes the requirement for the implementation of an ethics code, and that Mckinsey stop advising companies on potentially dangerous narcotics, according to the Department of Law.
• Contact reporter Michael S. Lockett at 757-621-1197 or mlockett@juneauempire.com.
