REVOLVING DOORS

McKinsey Consultants Worked for Purdue Pharma and Its Regulator at the Same Time, Documents Show

Consulting firm boasted to Purdue Pharma about its insider contacts at the federal regulator overseeing OxyContin.

Consultants at McKinsey & Co. simultaneously worked for the OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma and its federal regulator, documents reviewed by The New York Times have revealed. In one example, in 2017, McKinsey’s Jeff Smith was consulting for both Purdue, as it attempted to launch new drugs, and the Food and Drug Administration, the industry’s government regulator responsible for approving those new drugs. In 2014, McKinsey officials appeared to boast to Purdue of its privileged access to the FDA, saying one of McKinsey’s strengths was “who we know and what we know.” The Times trawled documents obtained by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform for its report, which alleges that “at least 22 McKinsey consultants have worked for both Purdue and the FDA, some at the same time” and that “the firm provided no evidence to the committee that it had disclosed the potential conflicts of interest.” Rep. Carolyn Maloney, the New York Democrat who chairs the committee, said in a statement: “Today’s report shows that at the same time the FDA was relying on McKinsey’s advice to ensure drug safety and protect American lives, the firm was also being paid by the very companies fueling the deadly opioid epidemic to help them avoid tougher regulation of these dangerous drugs.”