Supreme Court case: Can drug companies buy doctors' prescription data?

[villian]

The US Supreme Court on Tuesday takes up a case examining whether a Vermont law that blocks access to prescription-drug records violates the free-speech rights of pharmaceutical companies.

At issue is Vermont’s 2007 Prescription Confidentiality Law. The measure bars drug companies from obtaining and using a doctor’s prescription records for marketing purposes unless the doctor grants prior permission for companies to use the data.

The prescription-drug data do not identify patients. But drug stores, which maintain the records, can sell them to data-mining companies, which then sell the information to pharmaceutical companies.

The information is useful because drug companies can use it to identify doctors who routinely prescribe cheaper generic drugs, the Vermont legislature concluded. Those doctors are then targeted through promotions to switch to drugs that tend to be more expensive and sometimes carry a more serious risk of side effects, the lawmakers found.

article @ http://www.minnpost.com/worldcsm/20..._drug_companies_buy_doctors_prescription_data

 

[villian]

I can't explain how much it bothers me drugs are marketed in the first place. The choice of a drug should be between a medical professional and their patient with no outside influences involved. If you go to any other country you will not see prescription drug advertised like they are in the States.

The US Supreme Court on Tuesday takes up a case examining whether a Vermont law that blocks access to prescription-drug records violates the free-speech rights of pharmaceutical companies.

Seriously?

 

[Mora Fiend]

^ So true, I got my Lyrica prescription by asking for it by name with my pain management doctor. I literally just went in, said "I would like to try Lyrica for my burning nerve pain on my side, I saw a commercial for it and it looks good." and bam, written.

 

[misk]

in australia its like our Drs get junk mail flyers about certain drugs and will push them on you regardless of what you say, but we don't have prescription meds openly advertised.

it makes it very hard to get your point across when you have to jump through hoops trying random meds that they seem hellbent on prescribing (ie. antidepressants) rather than listening to any opinions you have formed by doing some prior research, but i have never had a specific brand pushed, we have the choice of brand name or generic if available for most meds at the pharmacy.

do you get brand name prescription meds advertised to the public in the US?
or is it just pushed through the Drs?

i remember a fair bit of bad press about companies in the US going well out of their way to convince Drs to prescribe some drugs even if not suitable over the years on a few shows i've watched. going from the outcome of some of the investigations i would have thought shit like this case wouldn't even be able to be considered going to court?

 

[villian]

do you get brand name prescription meds advertised to the public in the US?
or is it just pushed through the Drs?

both. brand name medicine is advertised directly to the consumer as well as drug companies giving doctors incentives to prescribe their medication (even in cases where a cheaper or generic medication may be available)

going from the outcome of some of the investigations i would have thought shit like this case wouldn't even be able to be considered going to court?

drug companies make a shit ton of money and have lobbyists for their interests in government. the supreme court is pretty much owned by the corporations just like our leaders our bought by corporations (thanks Citizens United!)

 

[NeighborhoodThreat]

do you get brand name prescription meds advertised to the public in the US?
or is it just pushed through the Drs?

It is indeed both. My doctors get free samples, etc. My psych gave me a bunch of pens all with various antidepressants on it. I remember evening having an OxyContin pen at one point (this is when it first came out).

"Talk to your doctor about this drug you don't really need but it's going to make you feel a bit better and make us rich as shit. Side effects include pretty much anything bad."

usually translates to:

"Ask your doctor to script you this, we'll get rich and your doctor will get some free stuff from our rep."

 

[Mora Fiend]

do you get brand name prescription meds advertised to the public in the US?
or is it just pushed through the Drs?

It depends on if the drug company has a patent on the chemical. In the case of my Lyrica they have a patent on the pregabalin and when I get it filled it's always the brand name because there is no generic alternative yet. It costs several hundred dollars because they're the only brand out there and can charge whatever they want. The doctor probably gets a kickback for prescribing it as well, I love the way our system works in the US.......

 

[villian]

It depends on if the drug company has a patent on the chemical. In the case of my Lyrica they have a patent on the pregabalin and when I get it filled it's always the brand name because there is no generic alternative yet. It costs several hundred dollars because they're the only brand out there and can charge whatever they want. The doctor probably gets a kickback for prescribing it as well, I love the way our system works in the US.......

And even when a patent runs out the company will just tweak the delivery method to get another few years out of it like Purdue did with Oxycontin or Pain Therapeutics is with Remoxy. Or how about Suboxone coming in strips when its patent was about to run out? When the Ritalin patent ran out they released Concerta. It's shameless and appears to be standard operating procedure.

 

[misk]

crazy stuff.
our Drs do hand out sample packs, but its for shit that has a low success rate in the situation, so its almost like old stock they have laying around and just palm you off for a week or two and expect you to come back for a second option or a referral to a specialist clinic cause your case is in the too hard basket.

my psych seemed very keen to try half a dozen samples on me over a few months with nothing but more discomfort for me as it was all hit and miss.

i think australia would implode on the outcries from the 'general public' if we had prescription drugs advertised openly even though they don't realise they may already have fallen for advertising by proxy (does that work? lol).
with all the bad press the US has been getting with oxys has made doctors crack down insanely here even refusing to refer people to pain management clinics to get proper meds (normal GP wont give anything stronger than 500mg/30mg paracetamol/codeine), i couldn't imagine adding competitive advertising to the mix let alone data that will allow for more specific marketing as suggested in this article.

i know the facts can and are twisted in marketing, but it would be interesting to see the impact more openly marketed prescription drugs would have in terms of medication/condition awareness in australia - can't really think at the moment but i'm sure there's fuck all advertising done - it must be a fine line between educational marketing and specifically competitive marketing, but i'd imagine the downhill slope to utter shit marketing would be quite steep once that line is crossed.