McKinsey Will Pay $650 Million to Resolve DOJ Opioid Probe (1)

Consulting giant McKinsey & Co. has agreed to pay $650 million while avoiding a guilty plea for conspiring with Purdue Pharma and other pharmaceuticals to misbrand addictive opioids.

In a five-year deferred prosecution agreement with the Justice Department, McKinsey will pay a combination of civil and criminal penalties stemming from its role advising Purdue on obtaining FDA approval of OxyContin and how to “turbocharge” sales of the painkiller. DOJ charged the company with intentionally aiding Purdue and other drugmakers in deceptively marketing opioids to be sold without medically appropriate prescriptions.

“For the first time in history, the Justice Department is ...