The wire services are reporting that the Supreme Court has denied certiorari in an appeal filed by IMS Health and Verispan. The companies were appealing a New Hampshire law that protects physicians’ prescription-writing data from data-mining companies that ana collect, analyze and sell that information to boost drug sales. The companies argued that the law violated their free speech rights.
So… if New Hampshire can make such data-mining illegal for prescription records, what else can this potentially apply to? A few other states have enacted similar laws.
A similar case involving the same companies and a Vermont law was recently argued before the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, but has not yet been decided.