Indiana to get $12.5M share of national opioid settlement

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Indiana will receive more than $12.5 million as part of a multistate settlement with a consulting firm that worked with opioid manufacturers to promote addictive painkillers, the state's attorney general said Thursday.

Indiana's share of McKinsey & Company's $573 million settlement with 47 states, the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories will be $12,579,158, Attorney General Todd Rokita said.

The settlement with the New York-based company is the first multistate opioid settlement to result in a substantial payout to states.

Rokita said Indiana's slice of the settlement 'œwill bring substantial and immediate relief to communities across the state" by addressing problems caused by opioids, including funding prevention, education and treatment efforts in local communities.

Rokita's office said in a statement that filings in the settlement 'œdescribe how McKinsey contributed to the opioid crisis by selling aggressive marketing schemes and consulting services to opioid manufacturers, including Purdue Pharma, that encouraged physicians to over-prescribe OxyContin-triggering abuse, addiction, and death for thousands of patients."

McKinsey 'œcontinued these practices well after the opioid crisis was underway," according to the statement.

The settlement calls for McKinsey to prepare internal documents detailing its work with Purdue Pharma and other opioid companies for public disclosure online.

Washington's attorney general has announced a separate $13.5 million settlement and West Virginia announced a $10 million settlement with McKinsey. The only remaining state that has not announced a deal with the company is Nevada.