The beginning of the end for prescription data mining?

Looks like lawmakers are taking a close look at companies that sell physician prescribing data to pharmaceutical companies:

Data-mining companies strongly defend what they do, saying the information they provide makes marketing less wasteful, more profitable and less annoying to doctors.

New Hampshire last year became the first state to ban such use of the data.

"I would say most doctors are shocked when they hear that drug reps really know everything they've written," said New Hampshire state Rep. Cindy Rosenwald, who sponsored the legislation.

The nation's largest health data-mining company, IMS Health of Norwalk, Conn., is challenging the New Hampshire law in federal court. IMS is also fighting a 2001 ban in the Canadian province of Alberta on releasing doctors' names.

States that have considered similar bills include Arizona, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Nevada, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia and Texas. A federal bill was proposed last year but died in committee.

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