Wyoming Gets $1 Million in Major Opioid Lawsuit Settlement

Wyoming will receive $1 million of a $573 million settlement with a major consulting firm that provided marketing schemes to large opioid manufacturers to promote the use of the highly addictive drugs leading to a deadly nationwide epidemic, according to a news release from the Consumer Protection Unit of the Wyoming Attorney General's Office.

Wyoming Attorney General Bridget Hill had joined attorneys general from 47 states, the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories to sue McKinsey & Co.

"In her complaint, filed today with the settlement, the Wyoming Attorney General alleges that McKinsey advised Purdue Pharma on how to maximize profits from its opioid products, including targeting high volume opioid prescribers to increase sales, using specific messaging to get physicians to prescribe more OxyContin to more patients, and circumventing pharmacy restrictions to deliver high-dose prescriptions," according to the news release.

Purdue Pharma makes OxyContin, a common painkiller that is highly addictive.

After court and other costs, the $573 million settlement will be used to abate opioid problems in the states and territories participating in the lawsuit.

Wyoming will receive $1 million of that.

“In a state of our size, we must work together at all levels of state and local government to maximize this and any future settlement funds to abate and alleviate the impacts of the opioid crisis,” Hill said.

Her office will be contacting agencies statewide that address the crisis, she said.

Besides the financial settlement, the agreement with McKinsey orders it to make public online tens of thousands of internal documents detailing its work for Purdue Pharma and other opioid companies.

McKinsey also agreed to adopt a strict document retention plan, continue its investigation into allegations that two of its partners tried to destroy documents related to Purdue Pharma, implement a strict ethics code that all partners must agree to each year, and stop advising companies on potentially dangerous Schedule II and III narcotics.

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