Vermont, drug companies to battle at Supreme Court

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http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/legal-challenges/157657-vermont-drug-companies-to-battle-at-supreme-court

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Tuesday morning in a challenge to state laws that restrict pharmaceutical companies’ access to doctors’ prescribing information.

The case pits the state of Vermont against drug manufacturers and data-mining firms that sell data on prescriptions written by doctors to drug companies, who can then target their marketing to physicians to sell more pharmaceuticals.

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“Under the First Amendment, Vermont has no legitimate interest in insulating prescribers from that truthful communication on a matter of public concern,” IMS stated in a brief in the case. “The Constitution forbids such paternalistic efforts to limit the free exchange of information.”

But Vermont argued that First Amendment precedents “also recognize a right not to speak and a right to be let alone” and said the Supreme Court has previously upheld restrictions on the use of information that is not publicly available. The state’s brief emphasizes that the law does not directly prohibit the selling of prescription information, framing it instead as requiring doctors’ consent before their prescribing information is used for marketing purposes.

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1. k&r..

[RandomThoughts]

2. Privacy, and Censorship are different issues.

That is trying to use the wrong of Censorship, to defend removal of privacy.

It is apples and oranges.