Supreme Court to Rule on Pharma Data Law

In the US, Attorney General William Sorrell has filed a petition with the Supreme Court to review a decision previously made by a court in Vermont, which allows the collection and use of prescriber-identifiable data for marketing or promoting prescription drugs.

Pharma firms collect information about the prescriptions they provide - including the prescribing doctor's name and address; the name, dosage and quantity of the drug; the date and place the prescription is filled; and the patient's age and gender. However, data is then aggregated and stripped of all personally identifiable information, to protect patient privacy.

Back in 2007 three firms - pharma research giant IMS Health, Wolters Kluwer Health (through its subsidiary Source Healthcare Analytics) and Verispan - filed suits against the states of Maine and Vermont to prevent the passing of laws restricting the collection and disclosure of physician prescribing information, saying that this would unconstitutionally restrict commercial speech.

At the time, the firms also outlined their belief that such a law would ultimately drive up healthcare costs and damage consumer interests.

The Vermont law to restrict the use of prescriber data, which was passed in 2007, was recently overturned by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals which ruled that it violates the First Amendment.

However, Sorrell has now appealed to the Supreme Court to review the decision.