Detailing physicians and providing them with samples has been the cornerstone of the pharmaceutical industries marketing efforts for years. Over the past few years, there have been changes where physicians don’t allow detail reps to meet with them or even physician groups that charge them for the meetings.
There have also been attempts to move to eDetailing where physicians log-in to virtual detailing sessions on their own time or attempts to push advertising or other drug information into the software solutions that prescribers use (electronic prescribing, practice management, electronic medical record).
One of the critical components for detailing is knowing doctor’s prescribing behaviors. How many prescriptions do they write? What drugs do they write for? This allows the pharma companies to focus their reps on the high prescribers that prescribe their competitors products or generics disproportionately.
So, if I interpret the recent decision from the New Hamshire District Court, it would appear that they are upholding an initial decision to prohibit companies from using this prescribing data for detailing. This is a big enough issue that I am sure it will get appealed again, but it would be a game changer if it is upheld.