Prescription Data Restriction Laws Not Just a U.S. Phenomenon

For the last few months, we’ve been covering the move by states to restrict pharmaceutical company access to prescriber level data. New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine have already passed laws to prohibit the use of prescription data for marketing purposes and there are bills under consideration in numerous other states.

The move to prevent pharmaceutical companies from accessing prescription data is also catching on internationally. Germany’s GKV-WSG reforms, which became effective in April, prohibit the use of prescriber-identifiable prescriber data for commercial purposes and Poland’s parliament is currently considering a bill that would prevent pharmacies from selling information captured during prescription drug transactions.

Whether in the U.S. or abroad, the motivation for these law is the same — to reduce the burden that new drugs place on the public purse. The New Hampshire law was overturned in April on grounds that it was overly restrictive of protected commercial speech. Although the state is appealing that ruling, data services in the U.S. have a strong First Amendment argument. In other countries, there are fewer protections for freedom of speech and drug spending places a much greater strain on central government budgets. One can therefore expect that data restriction laws will be adopted more broadly with European countries leading the way.