The Supreme Court will decide whether states may prohibit the use of drug prescription records for marketing purposes.
By reviewing a Vermont law that restricts commercial use of prescription records, the court will settle a split in lower courts about whether such laws violate the First Amendment.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in New York struck down Vermont's law. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit in Boston upheld similar legislation in Maine and New Hampshire. Both the states and the companies on the other side of the conflict asked the high court to decide the issue.
IMS Health and other companies collect data from pharmacies on the drug-prescribing practices and histories of doctors. The records do not include information that would identify patients.
