Vivek Ramaswamy and Amy Acton face scrutiny in Ohio race

Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Democratic opponent Amy Acton are facing scrutiny over personal and professional controversies in the Ohio race.

Experts have raised questions regarding Ramaswamy’s past leadership at the biopharmaceutical company Axovant. In 2014, Ramaswamy acquired the rights to a failed Alzheimer’s drug and utilized a reanalysis of data to help the company raise $315 million in a 2015 IPO. Ramaswamy exited the company through a private deal in 2017, shortly before the drug failed its final trial and the stock value dropped by 70%.

Meanwhile, the Acton campaign has targeted Ramaswamy following the guilty plea of a former bodyguard, employed through a third-party vendor, for federal narcotics trafficking. Ramaswamy’s campaign responded by stating they terminated the third-party firm immediately and condemned the attempt to politicize the incident. In retaliation, Ramaswamy has criticized Acton regarding a 2019 911 call involving an alcohol-influenced dispute between Acton and her husband.