From the New York Times article, "The amount McKinsey is paying is substantially more than it earned from opioid-related work with Purdue or Johnson & Johnson, Endo International and Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, its other opioid-maker clients, a person involved in the settlement negotiations said"

To me, "a cost of doing business" implies that they're making more money than it costs them. Here at least, that doesn't seem to be the case. So while this may not have been sufficient for retribution, I think it's easy to make the case that this will be a pretty good deterrent.

Consulting companies will start to realize that they can be liable for the advice the give.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/03/business/mckinsey-opioids...