Catania's Bill Would Regulate Pharmaceutical Salespeople

By Nikita Stewart
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, December 9, 2007; Page C11

The District could become the first jurisdiction in the country to license pharmaceutical sales representatives, a move a council member says would help protect doctors and patients from disreputable agents who help drive up the costs of prescription drugs.
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The D.C. Council is set to vote Tuesday on member David A. Catania's SafeRx Act, which would also ban pharmaceutical manufacturers from using doctors' prescription data for marketing purposes without the doctors' knowledge.
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Council member ... Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) ... is particularly critical of the legislation's licensing rules.
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Christopher McCoy disagrees. McCoy, a physician in internal medicine in Minnesota, is a member of the prescription privacy committee of the National Physicians Alliance. The group of doctors, formed two years ago, does not accept money from pharmaceutical companies.
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McCoy said his group is most worried about data mining. "They have more information than we do. Most doctors I talk to are offended by this," he said.

A U.S. District judge blocked New Hampshire this year from enforcing its law prohibiting data mining on the grounds that it restricts commercial free speech. State Rep. Cindy Rosenwald (D) said the state is appealing.

"There's no question that using doctors' prescriptions to fine-tune your marketing plan has an impact on drug sales," she said. "There's no other industry that has such detailed information of their customers without their permission."

Powell said data mining has benefits for patients because sales representatives can learn more about which drugs doctors are prescribing and better inform them of their effects.