Supreme Court to hear case on commercial use of prescriber information

The US Supreme Court will decide whether states can restrict access to prescriber information data collected by pharmacies when filling prescriptions. At issue is whether commercial use of the data is a protected right.

In November, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York ruled that a Vermont law restricting the sale of prescriber information violated First Amendment protection of commercial speech and impinged on the Constitution’s commerce clause protection of interstate commerce because the data are sold in states other than Vermont. In 2008, the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston upheld Maine and New Hampshire legislation similar to Vermont’s law.

Because of the lower courts’ split, the state of Vermont and the appellants — IMS Health, SDI, Wolters Kluwer and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) — all urged the high court to intervene. The Supreme Court initially rejected the case in July 2009.

The appellants have argued that the information they purchase from pharmacies is already stripped of patient identification information. “There’s nothing in the statues that says that government, academic researchers, and insurance companies can’t use this data for their purposes, so you really can’t claim medical privacy, if that’s the intent,” IMS Health spokesman Phil Oliva said in a statement.

Sorrell v. IMS Health will be heard in April; a June verdict is expected.

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