Sept 26 (Reuters) - Consulting firm McKinsey & Co has agreed to pay $230 million to resolve lawsuits by hundreds of U.S. local governments and school districts alleging it fueled an epidemic of opioid addiction through its work for bankrupt OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma and other drug companies.

Aelish Baig, a lawyer for the local governments, in a statement called the deal "a strong outcome for the communities harmed by this crisis".

Thousands of lawsuits have been filed by states, local governments and Native American tribes accusing drug companies of downplaying the risks of opioid painkillers, and distributors and pharmacies of ignoring red flags that they were being trafficked illegally.

The litigation has resulted in more than $51 billion in settlements, according to lawyers for the plaintiffs, with deals already struck with major drugmakers and the nation's largest distributors.

Nearly 645,000 people died in the United States from overdoses involving opioids, both prescription and illicit, from 1999 to 2021, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The U.S. Supreme Court last month agreed to hear a challenge by President Joe Biden's administration to Purdue Pharma's multi-billion-dollar bankruptcy settlement resolving related claims against the drugmaker.

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