The drug companies being sued by the state of Vermont to stop them from collecting information about doctors’ prescription-writing habits are getting support in Vermont’s appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Patient groups and two former secretaries of the Department of Health and Human Services and more than 50 organizations, including the Associated Press, have filed 16 friend of the court briefs urging the Supreme Court to reject a Vermont law that limits the use of information collected about physicians’ prescription practices.
In November a panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the law restricted commercial free speech.
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear Vermont’s appeal later this month.
Last month, Vermont said 35 states were supporting its position.