Colorado Senate spikes bill blocking sale of prescription data
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US-- The healthcare data industry breathed a sigh of relief last night as Colorado lawmakers struck down a bill that would have prevented the use of physician prescribing information for marketing purposes.
Bill 166 was postponed indefinitely by the State Senate's Business Affairs and Labour Committee after critics successfully argued against it.
Had it passed, the legislation would have stopped companies such as IMS Health and Verispan from selling information to pharmaceutical companies on the prescribing history of individual physicians.
Drugs firms rely on this data to market new drugs to doctors, but they also use it to monitor the safety of medications and implement drug recalls if necessary.
Their arguments persuaded the committee to ditch the bill and an IMS spokesman told Research today: “We are pleased that Colorado decided against this restrictive legislation.”
However it's a case of one down, many more to go for the company, which has seen similar legislative threats in at least nine other states since a federal appeals court upheld a New Hampshire law that places identical restrictions on the sale of prescriber-identifiable information.
IMS chief executive David Carlucci said recently that the firm would seek a Supreme Court review of the appeals court's decision.
Author: Brian Tarran
Related links:
Blow for IMS, Verispan in prescription data fight
Data firms win injunction against Maine prescription law
IMS moves to block Vermont, Maine laws
