Lawmaker Shelves Bill That Aimed To Restrict Sale of Rx Information
This week, Assembly member Bill Monning (D-Carmel) withdrew a bill (AB 2112) that aimed to prohibit the sale of physicians' prescribing habits for marketing purposes, the Santa Cruz Sentinel reports.
Monning said he pulled the legislation after realizing that it would not receive sufficient votes. He said he might reintroduce the bill in January if he can gather more support.
AB 2112 would have limited the availability of information that drugmakers can use to promote their products to physicians. The measure was modeled after a New Hampshire law.
The California Medical Association and AARP California supported the legislation.
However, the bill encountered opposition from pharmaceutical industry groups and data mining firms that gather and sell the information (Bookwalter, Santa Cruz Sentinel, 4/16).
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