Briefs

By DANIEL BARLOW Vermont Press Bureau - Published: April 25, 2009

MONTPELIER - A district court judge this week upheld Vermont's 2007 law banning the data-mining of prescription drug data for marketing purposes, possibly clearing the way for that law to be enacted this summer.

Vermont District Court Judge J. Garvan Murtha wrote in his 61-page ruling that the marketing of new prescription drugs causes the overall cost of health care to increase by fueling a demand for expensive, brand-name medicines.

Murtha rejected arguments from several data-mining companies and the pharmaceutical industry that Vermont's law violated the U.S. Constitution. The companies sued the state two years ago to stop the law from taking effect.

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