MASSDEVICE ON CALL — Data mining for drug sales: Suprme Court to weigh in. The nation’s high court is going to weigh in on whether pharmaceutical companies should be allowed to mine databases of information on the prescription of pharmaceuticals.
In Sorrell v. IMS Health, Supreme Court justices will determine whether and to what extent a state may ban the use of "prescriber-identifiable data" to market or promote those drugs to doctors under First Amendment law.
Last November, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit ruled unconstitutional a Vermont confidentiality law limiting companies’ use of information about what drugs physicians prescribe. Three companies that mine information on the prescription patterns of physicians and sell the data to pharmaceutical companies sued the Green Mountain State over the law, which bans the use of prescriber-identifiable data, also known as “PI,” for drug marketing unless the prescribing caregiver consents.
The plaintiffs, IMS Health Inc. (NYSE:RX), SDI and Source Healthcare Analytics, a division of Wolters Kluwer Health (AMS:WKL), argue that the law is a commercial free speech restriction, saying the data helps them monitor the safety of new drugs and study treatment outcomes. State officials say that drug companies were using the medical data as a "covert marketing tool."
Pharmaceutical company salespeople typically pore over electronic profiles bought from data brokers, dossiers that detail the brands and amounts of drugs a particular doctor has prescribed., writes The New York Times.
According to The Atlantic‘s Andrew Cohen:
The "case will give the justices yet another opportunity (or excuse, depending upon your point of view) to explore the contours of free speech rights of corporations when those rights happen to collide with earnest legislative action. And no matter which way they vote, the justices will offer a trove of new talking points (and legal precedent) to everyone else who pays attention to this particular corner of the world of information technology."
SCOTUS rejects fast-tracking health reform suit. The Supreme Court today rejected a call from Virginia’s attorney general Ken Cuccinelli to put review of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on a fast track. Judicial review of the health care reform legislation will continue on normal track in federal appeals courts, according to The Associated Press.
Medicare panel enemies multiply on both sides of the aisle. President Obama wants to expand the power of a 15-member panel set up by the PPACA to make cuts to Medicare, writes The NYTimes. But both Democrat and Republican opponents fear that the panel, known as the Independent Payment Advisory Board, would usurp Congressional spending power over one of the government’s most important and expensive social programs, the publication reports.
Venture Capital puts a bead on the FDA. Venture capitalists, and their industry-friendly legislators on Capitol Hill, are applying pressure behind the scenes to try to get the Food & Drug Administration to approve more drugs and devices more quickly. "Done right, this could be a healthy way to keep the FDA on its toes and allowing valuable new products on the market while protecting public health," writes Xconomy‘s Luke Timmerman.
Thousands attend Cook Medical founder’s mourning services. Thousands of mourners turned out for the public viewing for philanthropist and Cook Group Inc. founder Bill Cook, reported The Chicago Tribune. Cook spokesman Dave McCarty estimated 4,000 people had attended the viewing by 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 22 at the company’s headquarters in Bloomington, Inc. The Herald-Times estimated about 5,000 attended before viewing ended at 6 p.m., according to the Tribune.
Cook passed away at 80 on April 15 of heart failure. He started with $1,500 in capital and left behind a fortune Forbes estimates is worth $3.1 billion, a medical device company that employs 10,000 people.
Top image: "Supreme Court" by justindc acquired on Flickr.
