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WHAT WE’RE WATCHING

DIG PHARMA - The pandemic has made a lot of previously unimaginable things possible. Add to that list the fact that the public’s attitude toward pharmaceutical companies has improved significantly over the past year. The Harris Poll reported in February that 62% of Americans gave the pharmaceutical industry a positive rating, a dramatic increase from the 32% positive rating drug companies received in January 2020. The dramatic upswing in perception “stems directly from pharma’s proactive response to COVID-19,” the Harris Poll said. Another poll, from Data for Progress, found 56% of Americans had a favorable view of pharmaceutical companies in late March, and only 24% had an unfavorable view. Now, Law.com’s Charles Toutant reports, lawyers bringing drug defect cases will need to contend with this newfound positivity toward Big Pharma, which may spread into the jury pool. But, so far at least, plaintiffs attorneys appear to be ready for the challenge. “If I’m trying a case against Moderna [a developer of a COVID-19 vaccine], there’s going to be a positive impression and you’re going to have to deal with it,” Christopher Placitella, a drug defect lawyer at Cohen, Placitella & Roth in Red Bank, New Jersey, told Toutant. “I’m OK with it. I think if you have the evidence, those biases are easily overcome.”