Blow for IMS, Verispan in prescription data fight

US-- Healthcare data firms IMS and Verispan have been dealt a blow in their fight against a New Hampshire law that blocks the use of physician prescribing information for marketing purposes.

The companies have been denied a rehearing in the First Circuit Court of Appeals after judges there overturned an earlier federal court ruling which barred the law on free speech grounds.

This decision paves the way for the enforcement of the legislation, which wouldn't stop IMS and Verispan from collecting the data, but would prevent them from selling it on to drugs companies, who traditionally use that information to market new medicines to doctors.

New Hampshire had argued that legislation was needed to drive down healthcare costs by protecting doctors from these “high-pressure” sales pitches, however IMS and Verispan countered that the law “leaves the state and insurers free to pressure doctors to prescribe older, cheaper drugs, while it hobbles drug manufacturers' efforts to provide their competing views that newer, improved drugs better serve patient health”.

An IMS spokesman said the company was considering its options. It could lodge an appeal with the Supreme Court, however it is likely that the firm will wait for a final verdict from Vermont, where it is challenging the introduction of similar legislation.

Another so-called ‘prescription restraint law' in Maine currently has an injunction against it, preventing its enforcement for now – however as Maine is also in the First Circuit, the New Hampshire decision is expected to be binding in the state as well.

Verispan could not be reached for comment.

Author: Brian Tarran