A Vermont law that restricts companies’ use of information about the drugs doctors prescribe is unconstitutional on free speech grounds, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.
Three companies that gather information on drugs ordered by doctors and then sell the info to pharmaceutical manufacturers — IMS Health, SDI and Source Healthcare Analytics — had sued over the so-called data mining law. Passed in 2007, it bans the sale, transmission or use of prescriber-identifiable data for marketing a prescription drug unless the prescribing doctor consents.
