AG Paxton Announces $38.4 Million Settlement With Leading Opioid Marketing Consultant McKinsey

Staff Report

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AG Paxton Announces $38.4 Million Settlement with Leading Opioid Marketing Consultant McKinsey

AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton today announced that Texas reached a $38.4 million settlement with McKinsey, one of the world’s largest consulting companies.

McKinsey provided consulting services to opioid companies, including selling deceptive marketing plans, programs, and advisement to OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma for more than 15 years.

Today’s agreement between 47 states, the District of Columbia, five U.S. territories, and McKinsey resulted in a total settlement of $573 million.

In addition to providing funds to address the crisis, the agreement calls for McKinsey to provide tens of thousands of its internal documents detailing its work for Purdue Pharma and other opioid companies for public disclosure online.

McKinsey also agreed to adopt a strict document retention plan and ethics code that all partners must agree to each year.

“This settlement is the result of ongoing, aggressive action to hold opioid manufacturers and marketers accountable for their deceptive advertisement of highly-addictive pain pills, which spurred an epidemic that left victims and their families with unimaginable consequences. Prescription opioids continue to kill over a thousand Texans every year, and thousands more suffer from health consequences or the addiction or death of a beloved family member,” said Attorney General Paxton. “Texas will not stand by as countless lives are affected by misleading marketing and dangerous prescriptions. I will continue to do everything I can to protect Texans and help our state heal from this crisis.”

In 2017, Attorney General Paxton and a bipartisan coalition of 40 states served investigative subpoenas on eight companies that manufacture or distribute highly addictive painkillers.

Since then, Attorney General Paxton also initiated lawsuits against both Purdue Pharma and Johnson & Johnson for misleading marketing and sale of opioids.

Read a copy of today’s settlement here.

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Official Request Summary RQ-0371-KP
Whether chapter 157 of the Occupations Code requires a physician to provide any level of supervision to a certified registered nurse anesthetist to whom the physician has delegated authority, and the potential liability for such delegation.

Official Opinion Summary KP-0353
Physician supervision for acts delegated to certified registered nurse anesthetist

Notification of Opinion

Official Request Summary RQ-0373-KP
Punishment for a violation of the maximum vehicle weight limit established by the executive director of the Texas Department of Transportation under Transportation Code section 621.102.

Official Opinion Summary KP-0354
Punishment for a violation of the maximum vehicle weight limit established under Transportation Code section 621.102

Notification of Opinion

Official Request Summary RQ-0370-KP
Whether a deputy sheriff may simultaneously serve as an elected alderman of a Type-A general-law city.

Official Opinion Summary KP-0352
Deputy sheriff not an officer and not precluded from simultaneously serving as city councilmember