Tories Question Feds Over Report Alleging McKinsey Tried to Boost Opioid Sales in Canada

A sign of U.S.-based McKinsey & Company management consulting firm in Geneva on April 12, 2022. Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images

The federal Conservatives are questioning the Liberal government about its ties with the global consulting firm McKinsey & Co. after a recent report alleged the company previously pitched a drug company on methods to boost its sales of highly addictive opioids in Canada.

McKinsey sent a confidential memo in March 2014 to Purdue Pharma saying that it was looking forward to “supporting” Purdue to help it “better target and reach high-potential prescribers,” according to a Globe and Mail report published on June 19.

The memo, titled “Identifying Growth Opportunities in Canada,” also said that McKinsey was looking to increase the motivation of Purdue Pharma’s pharmaceutical sales representatives by looking at “what opportunities exist to change incentive compensation to better align the sales force goals to company objectives.”

Conservative MP Garnett Genuis referenced the reported memo in the House of Commons on June 19 and said it shows that McKinsey and Purdue Pharma “did everything possible to increase sales and left the trail of human misery in their wake.”

Genuis also noted the Liberal government has awarded over $100 million worth of contracts to McKinsey since 2015.

“The opioid crisis was a result of corporate marketing and made some close friends of this Liberal government very rich,” Genuis said. “Those who got rich through the opioid crisis should pay for the recovery.”

McKinsey is in the midst of a class-action lawsuit that was launched against it by the B.C. government under allegations that the consulting firm carried out “false, reckless, and deceptive marketing campaigns” aimed at boosting opioid sales.

McKinsey has denied the allegations in previous court filings and has said that it is “not a manufacturer or distributor of opioids” and also that there is “no meaningful connection between McKinsey and the opioid crisis in Canada.”

However, the Liberal government recently said that it plans on joining the lawsuit against McKinsey as a “class member” if it is certified as scheduled by next year.

The B.C. government’s statement of claim in the lawsuit alleges that McKinsey “created or assisted in the creation of an epidemic of addiction in British Columbia and throughout every province and territory in Canada.”

The Epoch Times reached out to McKinsey & Co. and Purdue Pharma for comment but didn’t immediately hear back.