IMS Shares Soar After Legal Victory

Shares in pharma MR leader IMS Health have risen to an eight-year high after a US federal judge overturned a New Hampshire state law banning the commercial use of physician prescription pattern data.

The judge ruled in favour of IMS and rival Verispan's suit, saying that the state's Prescription Information Law violated free speech. 'Patients will benefit from a more transparent, safer and more competitive healthcare system as a result of this ruling' said Robert H Steinfeld, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of IMS in a statement signed by both companies.

New Hampshire is the only US state to pass such a law. Steinfeld continued: 'We know some states are still considering legislation modeled on the New Hampshire law. This important decision clarifies that the constitution protects the dissemination of provider-identifiable information, which is also vital to ensure patient safety and improve health care quality.'

The law was passed a year ago to protect doctors' privacy and prevent aggressive sales tactics. It stated that companies could not use data for targeting physicians, but did allow collection of prescribers' post codes, location and medical specialties for use in patient-care management, clinical trials, and education. Patient information is not included in the data. This week's ruling means that data companies can continue their practice of collecting sales data from pharmacies, matching it with data on individual prescribers, then selling the information to drug companies.

Last year, the American Medical Association (AMA), with support from IMS and Verispan, created an opt-out system for physicians to remove their names from monitoring. But just 7,200 physicians have opted out of the AMA database from which the data is compiled. The database contains about one million names.

In a statement, the industry's trade and lobby group, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, explained that the judge concluded: 'the remedy to improving prescribing decisions is more information, not enforced silence. We couldn't agree more.'

Connecticut-based IMS saw its share price rise by more than 7.3%, to $31.71 – the highest since March 1999 – after the results of the case were aired. Employing 1,700 staff, IMS is online at www.imshealth.com . Verispan, with a staff of 500 based at its Pennsylvania offices, is on the web at www.verispan.com .

The case was first reported in DRNO in January (www.mrweb.com/drno/news6365.htm ).

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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