Drug Companies Hit By Massive Lawsuits Target Ohio GOP Gov.-Elect For Statements On ’60 Minutes’

Drug makers targeted in a massive number of lawsuits against them launched by numerous municipalities asked the federal judge in Cleveland overseeing the lawsuits to sanction GOP governor-elect Mike DeWine and two other lawyers for statements in recent television interviews that the drug companies insist taint the prospective jury pool.

The motion filed by the drug companies, including Cardinal Health, Endo, AmerisourceBergen and Purdue Pharma, accuses DeWine, Mike Moore and Burton LeBlanc of making statements on “60 Minutes” that were part of a “concerted campaign … to taint potential jury pools through misleading, inflammatory, and improper public statements.” They added that the statements represented “a flagrant violation of their ethical obligations as attorneys practicing before this Court and threatens defendants’ rights to a fair adjudication of the claims asserted against them.”