Pharmaceutical sales representatives walk into New Hampshire physicians’ offices armed with facts about their companies’ products and data about physicians’ patient prescribing habits. Until recently, however, pitching a new drug did not also require expertise in First Amendment free-speech law.
That may change due to New Hampshire’s Prescription Information Law–the nation’s first prohibition on the use or sale of a physician’s prescribing history for pharmaceutical marketing or other commercial purposes. In a precedent-setting decision, the 1st Circuit in November upheld the law’s restrictions on data-mining companies that provide such information to drug companies.
