McKinsey Helped Purdue Increase OxyContin Sales Alabama Class Action

This complaint is brought by a county and city in Alabama against McKinsey & Company, Inc. and two related McKinsey companies on the subject of opioids, citing “significantly increased costs, as well as a dramatic increase of social problems, including … drug abuse and the commission of criminal acts to obtain opioids.” The complaint says that McKinsey, a management consultant company, provided consulting services to Purdue Pharma, LP, “working to maximize sales of OxyContin and knowingly perpetuating the opioid crisis.”

The class for this action is those who have been impacted by McKinsey’s actions and omissions, including (1) all Alabama counties, between 2004 and the present, and (2) all Alabama cities, towns, and municipalities, between 2004 and the present.

The two plaintiffs, Walker County and the City of Jasper, both in Alabama, provide services to residents, “including law enforcement, emergency medical assistance, services for families and children, public assistance, public welfare,” and other services for health and safety. Their expenses on these things have increased, they say, due to the opioid crisis.

Opioids, including name-brand drugs like OxyContin and Percoet as well as similar genetics, have characteristics like those of opium and heroin. As such, they are both addictive and dangerous. Opioid painkillers, the complaint says, “are widely diverted and improperly used,” causing “overdose deaths and addictions.”

The complaint alleges, “The crisis arose from opioid manufacturers’ … deliberately deceptive marketing strategy to expand opioid use. [McKinsey] played an integral role in creating and deepening the opioid crisis.”

McKinsey, the complaint alleges, knew that opioids were dangerous, “but nonetheless advised Purdue to improperly market and sell OxyContin.”

In Walker County and Jasper, the complaint claims, “opioid abuse, addiction, morbidity and mortality has created a serious public health and safety crisis, is a public nuisance, and [McKinsey’s] actions have caused and contributed” to the problem.

The complaint therefore asks for damages in several categories:

• Law enforcement and public safety
• Emergency services, medical care, therapeutic care and other treatments, for addiction, overdoses, and deaths
• Costs of prescriptions
• Other costs

According to the complaint, McKinsey is not entitled to a statute of limitations defense because McKinsey and Purdue both deliberately hid what they were doing.

The complaint charges that the company supplied Purdue with “granular sales and marketing” advice and was involved in implementing its strategies. It was involved in efforts to increase OxyContin sales, the complaint alleges.

McKinsey, the complaint claim, has also provided consulting services to other opioid makers.

The counts include negligence, fraud and misrepresentation, and civil conspiracy, among other things.

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Fraud
Tags: Addiction or Costs of Addiction, Government, Increased Costs, Opioids, Pharmaceuticals