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Oklahoma Gets $8.9M From Settlement With Opioid Manufacturers' Consultant

Oklahoma will receive $8.9 million out of a multistate, $573 million total settlement with global business consulting firm McKinsey & Co. for its role in the opioid crisis.

In a deal announced Thursday with attorneys general for 47 states, the company agreed to make public documents showing communications with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma and three other companies that have been in the opioid business.

Oklahoma's funding will go toward costs of responding to the opioid epidemic.

"We know money will not erase the anguish felt by those who lost a loved one to the opioid epidemic. However, it will help us moving forward by funding treatment and prevention programs. Our trust now lies with the wisdom of our state lawmakers to appropriate this money to efforts to help end the opioid crisis," Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter said in a statement.

The settlement is novel because McKinsey did not make or sell the powerful painkillers but rather advised companies that did on how to boost their business.

States say the company encouraged Purdue to focus on selling higher doses and to high-volume prescribers.

Matt Trotter joined KWGS as a reporter in 2013. Before coming to Public Radio Tulsa, he was the investigative producer at KJRH. His freelance work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times and on MSNBC and CNN.
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