FairWarning, By Lea Yu on August 10, 2010
A federal appeals court has upheld a Maine law that allows doctors to withhold prescription information from companies that could use it for targeted drug marketing.
Under the Maine law, doctors can opt out of having their prescribing history handed over to data collection firms. These firms sell the information to pharmaceutical companies who use it in sales contacts with physicians. The law seeks to lower health care costs by restricting hard-sell tactics that can raise the cost of drugs.
Three companies that collect, analyze and sell medical data-also known as "prescription data mining"-challenged the law on the grounds that it violated free speech, The Associated Press reports.
"The plaintiffs suggested that this law chills their commercial free speech. All our law does is protect the privacy of doctors who prescribe medications," Maine Attorney General Janet Mills said Thursday.
The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston upheld the law, citing a ruling the court made in favor of a similar New Hampshire law in 2008. The U.S. Supreme Court let that law stand last summer when it declined to review the holding.
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