A | Global consulting giant McKinsey & Company advised several painkillers producers for 15 years on how to "turbocharge" prescription drug sales largely to blame for starting the opioid epidemic in the US, The New York Times has revealed citing over 100,000 documents.,The docs emerged as a part of a settlement deal that McKinsey signed with several state attorneys that sued the company.,Apart from working with Endo, Purdue, and Mallinckrodt, the company also provided "in-depth experience in narcotics" for Johnson & Johnson subsidiaries producing controlled substances. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of US citizens died from overdose, often linked to these very drugs.,How It All Started,According to the disclosed documents, McKinsey helped both Endo and Purdue, the creators of two of the most widespread opioid-based drugs for severe chronic pain, to launch their products Opana and OxyContin in 2006-2008. The firm even advised one of the companies on how to overcome a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) block which it had encountered in 2008.,The FDA blocked Purdue's attempt to release an upgraded version of its OxyContin, which was more difficult to snort or dilute and inject in bloodstream – two methods of the prescription drug's abuse that already had been devised by some of its recipients. In order to help Purdue get the license, McKinsey interviewed an ex-drug dealer on the medication's abuse, prepared docs and even coached the drug firm's officials for meetings with the FDA as the pharmaceutical company knew its drug had been widely abused, the docs suggest.,Crack Pipes: Biden Administration's Handling of US Opioid Crisis Raising Questions, Journo Says15 February, 13:00 GMT,Purdue's main competitor, Endo, also released a new version of its painkiller and tried to get it marked as resistant to crushing (for snorting) and diluting (for injections), but the FDA did not allow the latter citing lack of such properties. Nonetheless, the drug's release was a success and coincided with a drop in abuse-resistant OxyContin's sales.,This came, however, at a cost of local epidemics of previously unseen blood disorders in several US states in 2012 – patients were found to be anemic and suffered from kidney failure. Many of them admitted to abusing updated Opana – the new formulae indeed discouraged from snorting it, but still allowed injection abuse. However, the same component that prevented crushing took a great toll on those who tried to inject the drug to get a better high, leading to red blood cells' destruction and organ damage.,Going on the 'Offensive',The consulting company's involvement in the opioid crisis did not stop at helping the companies to launch their products – it also helped them to boost the sales.,While the pills like the ones produced by Endo, Purdue and Mallinckrodt were originally advertised as not causing additions, US doctors were not always prone to prescribing them, especially when a patient's pain was neither severe nor chronic. According to the revealed documents, McKinsey's consultants helped Purdue, and several other companies, including two J&J subsidiaries, to overcome this "problem".,Starting in 2009, McKinsey developed a "segmentation" strategy for Purdue: its analysts divided the company's customers into groups based on their potential thoughts of the product and then formed distinct messages for each group. The customers in this case were doctors prescribing painkillers and the product was opioid drugs. The strategy targeted even doctors who resorted to opioids only in most extreme cases, ensuring them of OxyContin's safety and trying to convince them that there was no point in making their patients suffer.,The consulting company proposed to achieve this by "[raising] physician comfort levels through appropriate education and support". Purdue tried to convince these doctors that their colleagues had no issues prescribing OxyContin.,By 2014, the US government started to realize a nascent opioid drug problem was underway and introduced new labeling requirements for such drugs as well as instructions to use them only in cases of severe of chronic pain. Around the same time, OxyContin sales started to decline, prompting Purdue to ask for McKinsey's help once again – this time to overcome the government's policy and precautions.,The consultants identified the problem as the company promoting its drug as a less potent opioid amid rampant drug abuse and advised to shift to the "offense" instead, the documents show. They namely advised focusing the salesmen efforts on doctors, who were likely to prescribe OxyContin to a new client not previously taking opioid drugs.,"Physicians with higher OxyContin NBRx to Rx ratio may be more likely to initiate a patient on OxyContin", an extract from a McKinsey presentation for Purdue from January 2014 said.,Around the same time and amid the 2015 HIV concentrated outbreaks in several states linked to the opioid drugs abuse via injections, McKinsey consulted Endo on promoting its Opana. The company was not concerned about what the CDC named "explosive transmission" of HIV and the Opana's role in it, according to the documents. On the contrary, in summer 2015, it helped Endo rededicate most of its salesmen from other products into a "Sales Force Blitz" – the company almost solely dedicated to selling Opana to around 3,000 physicians in the US.,One of McKinsey's consultants was excited over the creation of the "Force", claiming in correspondence with the head of Endo’s painkiller unit that the "fun [begins] on Monday!" with the latter responding "agreed, the fun is just beginning".,Playing Both Sides,One of the strangest revelations in the documents uncovered by the New York Times is that McKinsey managed to play both sides of the opioid crisis tragedy – helping pharmaceutical companies sell more of "not-so-addiction-resistant" drugs, while also assisting the FDA, other government agencies and state governments, in the fight against the epidemic.,In 2017, the FDA finally decided to pull one of the drugs, the more potent Opana, from the market, but not until it made $844 million in revenue with help from McKinsey and played a role in the deaths of thousands of Americans, considered to be the victims of the opioid epidemic. Paradoxically, the same year, McKinsey Senior Partner Tom Latkovic lamented about doctors prescribing opioid painkillers left and right at a health care conference.,"Why do we continue to prescribe, dispense, pay for opioid prescriptions to people that we know, or at least we could know, have an incredibly high propensity to abuse them?" Latkovic wondered.,The bizarre divergence between what McKinsey was advising to the pharmaceutical companies and Latkovic's rhetoric is explained by the fact that he was not a member of the consulting company's pharmaceutical practice, which worked with pharma.,Instead, he and his team worked with state governments and health systems to pin down the ways of tackling the opioid crisis, The New York Times said citing two local officials, who used to work on the issue. Their work, however, was partly complicated by McKinsey's pharmaceutical wing, which wanted to greenlight their draft publications in case they could damage their clients.,North Carolina Rep. Claims Opioid Crisis 'Affects Every Community' in US Amid Drug Trafficking Surge19 December 2021, 01:36 GMT,Eventually in 2019, McKinsey finally stopped advising its top client, Perdue, but not until their ties became public during one of the litigations related to the opioid epidemic and initiated by US authorities. One such litigation eventually had McKinsey pay $600 million in settlement without admitting guilt, as well as release the documents related to its work with the pharmaceutical companies.。 AI摘要福建召开推进会部署高质量建设两岸融合发展示范区，总结成效并谋划“十五五”重点工作。会议强调坚持改革创新、先行先试，深化经济文化交流，推动全域融合走深走实，为推进祖国统一贡献福建力量。福建日报评论员全省高质量建设两岸融合发展示范区工作推进会昨日在福州召开。会议深入学习贯彻习近平总书记关于对台工作的重要论述和对福建工作的重要讲话重要指示批示精神，坚决贯彻落实新时代党解决台湾问题的总体方略和《中共中央、国务院关于支持福建探索海峡两岸融合发展新路建设两岸融合发展示范区的意见》，全面总结示范区建设进展成效，交流推广相关经验做法，研究谋划“十五五”时期重点工作，对全省上下进一步统一思想、凝聚合力，在新的起点上奋力推进高质量建设两岸融合发展示范区，具有重要意义。两岸一家亲，闽台亲上亲。福建与台湾隔海相望、一水相连，在对台工作全局中具有独特地位和作用。支持福建探索海峡两岸融合发展新路、建设两岸融合发展示范区，是习近平总书记亲自谋划、亲自部署、亲自推动的重大战略任务，也是党中央赋予福建的重大政治责任、重大历史使命和重大发展机遇。党的十八大以来，习近平总书记就推动两岸融合发展工作，发表一系列重要讲话，作出一系列重要指示批示，为福建高质量建设两岸融合发展示范区指明了前进方向、注入了强大动力。中央“十五五”规划建议和国家“十五五”规划纲要都鲜明提出高质量建设两岸融合发展示范区，进一步明确示范区建设目标任务。

B | 使命光荣，责任重大；重任在肩，责无旁贷。福建充分发挥对台独特优势和先行示范作用，把两岸融合发展示范区建设作为重中之重，高起点谋划、高规格推动、高标准要求，先后发布一系列促进闽台融合的政策措施，形成一批阶段性标志性成果和经验做法，推动融合发展的政策制度体系更加完善、台胞台企登陆第一家园更加便利、闽台经济文化交流合作不断深化、福建全域融合发展保持良好势头，两岸融合发展的示范效应逐步显现、影响日益扩大。

C | 遵道而行，但到半途须努力；会心不远，要登绝顶莫辞劳。

D | “十五五”时期是福建在中国式现代化建设中奋勇争先的关键时期，也是高质量建设两岸融合发展示范区的关键攻坚期。在“十五五”开局之年，召开此次会议对全省深入推进高质量建设两岸融合发展示范区作出部署，一以贯之、正当其时。

E | 我们要深刻认识重大意义，持续增强信心，坚持改革创新，突出先行先试，持续在制度创新、模式创新、服务创新上大胆探索，在打造两岸共同家园、建设两岸共同市场、弘扬两岸共同文化上绵绵用力，推动两岸融合发展在更高质量、更深层次、更广领域实现突破，形成更多可借鉴、可复制、可推广的经验做法，以实际行动和工作成效坚定拥护“两个确立”、坚决做到“两个维护”。

F | 事必有法，然后可成。

G | 高质量建设两岸融合发展示范区，要坚持党的领导，坚持以通促融、以惠促融、以情促融，聚焦重点工作，善用各方资源，落实决策部署。深入推进以人为本、落实同等待遇，顺势而为多做造福台湾同胞的事，积极为越来越多台胞台企主动融入示范区建设创造更好条件。

H | 深入推进创新驱动、拉紧利益联结，提升闽台科技创新合作质效，打造闽台产业合作升级版。

I | 深入推进文化交流、促进心灵契合，深化民间基层交流，扩大祖地文化影响，拓展青年交流渠道，增强情感融合。深入推进点上突破、注重协同增效，立足重点区域和其他地区定位，把握好整体推进和各有侧重的关系，因地制宜探索对台融合发展路径，推动福建全域融合走深走实、行稳致远。鸿雁不畏海峡，岁月不改人心。两岸从来是一家，融合发展既是大义、更具大利，是一条更好满足两岸同胞对美好生活向往的康庄大道。