McKinsey suggested that Purdue Pharma offer a discount for every OxyContin overdose

The prestigious consulting firm McKinsey & Co. advised Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, to offer a discount to distributors each time a patient overdosed on OxyContin in part “to counter the emotional messages of mothers of overdosed adolescents ”. The New York Times reports. According to bankruptcy court filings, the consulting firm made the suggestion in a 2017 presentation on how to boost sales of OxyContin even as overdoses skyrocketed in the country. CVS and Anthem said they never received such discounts, but McKinsey had previously convinced Purdue to aggressively market OxyContin. The pharmaceutical company would then be criminally responsible for the promotion of this drug. Later, Purdue would ask McKinsey to “dismantle” the marketing plan, with a member of the Sackler family, who owns Purdue, saying they should have done so five years ago. As the opioid epidemic raged in the United States and Purdue faced dozens of lawsuits, North American executives at McKinsey asked in 2018 whether they should prepare for lawsuits by “eliminating all our lawsuits. documents and emails ”.