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McKinsey & Company, the world’s largest management consulting firm, worked for the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) while failing to disclose that it was also advising opioid makers, a congressional investigation has found.1 McKinsey’s work included advising Purdue Pharma, the company often blamed for triggering the US opioid epidemic, on how to avoid tougher regulations.
“McKinsey staffed at least 22 consultants at both the FDA and opioid manufacturers on related topics, including at the same time,” said Representative Carolyn Maloney, chairwoman of the powerful Committee on Oversight and Reform. “Behind the scenes McKinsey consultants leveraged their federal connections to secure even more private sector business and tried to influence key public health officials on behalf of clients like Purdue Pharma.”
The revelations come from internal documents made available by the consultancy firm as part of a $600m legal settlement agreed last year with the attorneys general of 47 states.2
At least 37 McKinsey contracts with the FDA involved consultants who simultaneously or previously worked for Purdue, forming what one company email called McKinsey’s “mini ‘army’ here at Purdue.”
Purdue Pharma received a rare corporate criminal conviction in 2006 for misleading doctors and the public about the safety of its opioids, and recently agreed to pay roughly $6bn to states...