In retrospect it was a marriage made in federal regulatory heaven: When Purdue Pharma hired consulting firm McKinsey & Company to help them shore up their post-opioid lawsuit image, they also became engaged to the FDA, albeit in a roundabout way.
As it turns out, the partner in the firm who was helping Purdue create new business plans and drugs was also helping the U.S. FDA overhaul its offices that regulate those drugs. What’s even more alarming, the wedding wasn’t unusual: As reported by The New York Times, a review of “thousands of internal McKinsey documents found that the firm repeatedly allowed employees who served pharmaceutical companies, including opioid makers, to also consult for the FDA.”
Spanning 15 years of business dealings, the documents show that McKinsey has worked for both Purdue and the FDA since at least 2010 — and the Times found no evidence that it had disclosed the conflict of interest
SOURCE: The New York Times April 13, 2022