DC’s pharmacy board scraps MR payment disclosure rule

The board now says disclosure is not necessary so long as research is conducted by an independent agency that is neither owned nor affiliated to a pharmaceutical manufacturer, that the drug company does not know the identity of the respondent and that payments are made by the survey company.

Disclosure rules for marketing payments were brought in with the state’s AccessRx Act of 2004. Although the act itself did not apply to market research payments, the Board of Pharmacy decided to extend the reporting requirements.

The revised rules were announced by the Council for American Survey Research Organisations (Casro), who spent six months lobbying for the change.