Letter to Honorable Merrick Garland, Attorney General - Schatz, Blumenthal Urge Attorney General To Investigate McKinsey's Role In Fueling Opioid Epidemic

Letter

Dear Attorney General Garland:
We write with strong concerns regarding the consulting firm McKinsey & Company and its
contributing role in the opioid epidemic. Over its 15-year client relationship with Purdue Pharma,
the drugmaker engaged in criminal wrongdoing with respect to the sale of OxyContin and
recklessly promoted the sale of this drug to the American people. We urge the Department of
Justice to thoroughly investigate McKinsey's work with Purdue Pharma and other opioid
manufacturers to determine if McKinsey also participated in or aided and abetted any criminal
wrongdoing.
Recent documents reveal the details of McKinsey's consulting work with Purdue Pharma's Sackler
family and the drugmaker's efforts to increase sales of OxyContin--a marketing scheme that would
further fuel an addiction crisis that has claimed the lives of more than 400,000 people in the United
States over the last two decades.1
These materials detail McKinsey's proposed strategy to
"turbocharge" OxyContin sales, which included plans to provide distributors of OxyContin a rebate
for overdoses attributed to the drug. McKinsey also advised Purdue Pharma to maximize profits by
targeting high-volume opioid prescribers and using messaging to induce doctors to prescribe more
OxyContin, and encouraged other tactics to reduce oversight of OxyContin and target patients.
McKinsey continued to advise Purdue Pharma even after the opioid manufacturer pleaded guilty in
2007 to federal criminal charges that it had misled regulators, doctors, and patients about the risks
of OxyContin.
As a result of these abhorrent revelations, and in the face of a multitude of potential lawsuits,
McKinsey reached settlements of almost $600 million with 49 state attorney generals, five U.S.
territories, and the District of Columbia to "resolve investigations into [its] past work for opioid
manufacturers."
2 The McKinsey settlement also raises additional questions separate and apart from
its involvement in the criminal conduct pleaded to by Purdue Pharma last fall. On February 8, NBC
News reported that "most of the money to be paid by McKinsey will go to state programs funding
addiction treatment centers and recovery services."3
In fact, that is the reason McKinsey cited for
having entered into this settlement: "to provide fast, meaningful support to communities across the
United States" and "to be part of the solution to the opioid crisis."4 However, NBC News also
reported that McKinsey's "wholly owned hedge fund affiliate, called MIO Partners, holds indirect
stakes in addiction treatment centers and a maker of overdose treatment products."5 That McKinsey
may now stand to reap financial benefits from its own settlement through the addiction treatment
and recovery services it is intended to fund raises questions about the costs that McKinsey has actually agreed to pay for its misconduct and may present conflicts of interest and disclosure
concerns that also warrant investigation.
Last year, Purdue Pharma pleaded guilty to federal charges on fraud and anti-kickback
conspiracies.6
It is critical that McKinsey, which has demonstrated a disconcerting indifference
toward the well-being of America's families, is also held fully accountable for its role in this crisis.
Accordingly, we urge you to investigate McKinsey's role with Purdue Pharma and its work with
other opioid manufacturers to determine if McKinsey also participated in fraud and anti-kickback
conspiracies or has engaged in other criminal wrongdoing.
We appreciate your attention to this matter, and we look forward to your response.
Sincerely,

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