McKinsey proposed paying pharmacy companies rebates for overdoses

Newly released documents from a federal bankruptcy court in New York indicate that consulting firm McKinsey & Company played a role in steering sales of oxycodone hydrochloride (OxyContin—Purdue Pharma). The documents provide more information about how McKinsey advised the Sackler family, Purdue’s owners, and the company’s plans to boost sales of the drug. The records show that in 2017, McKinsey proposed giving Purdue’s distributors a rebate for every oxycodone overdose attributable to medications they sold, among other options to boost sales. Specifically, McKinsey estimated how many customers of companies including CVS and Anthem might overdose. It projected that in 2019, for instance, 2,484 CVS customers would either have an overdose or develop an opioid use disorder. A rebate of $14,810 per “event” meant that Purdue would pay CVS $36.8 million that year. The documents describe McKinsey’s work with Purdue going back to 2008, the year after the drugmaker pleaded guilty to misleading regulators. CVS and Anthem have recently been among McKinsey’s prominent clients, but both companies said they never received rebates from Purdue for customers who had overdosed on oxycodone. Purdue last week pleaded guilty to criminal charges, including defrauding federal health agencies and paying illegal kickbacks to doctors, and it also faces about $8.3 billion in penalties.