Tobacco Lawyers Target Drug Makers

Lawyers who took on the tobacco industry are teaming up to file lawsuits alleging that drug makers inflated prices, according to an analyst’s report.

Pharmaceutical companies including Eli Lilly & Co., Abbott Laboratories and Schering-Plough Corp. are under attack from state governments and consumer groups that claim government heath-insurance programs pay too much for drugs.

Attorney Dick Scruggs, who filed the first state lawsuit against tobacco companies, formed a consortium to file against drug makers, said a report by Barbara Dreyfuss and Tim Anderson, Prudential Securities analysts. Almost every big drug maker can expect subpoenas by mid-2002, the report said.

The Scruggs consortium plans to file on behalf of states. Scruggs’ Pascagoula, Miss., law firm said he wasn’t available for comment.