IMS and SDI petition US Supreme Court over NH law

Health information giants IMS Health and SDI (which took over Verispan last year) have jointly filed a petition with the US Supreme Court in  the IMS Health versus Ayotte (the Attorney General of New Hampshire)  case, in which the US Court of Appeals First Circuit upheld a New  Hampshire law that restricts the commercial use of  prescriber-identifiable data (Marketletters passim).

At the heart of the plaintiffs case is the argument that the US  Constitution's First Amendment, which prohibits the government from  passing laws that restrict freedom of speech, should cover the  gathering, analysis and publication of data for commercial purposes, a  position accepted by the US District Court that ruled in favor of the  firms.

Robert Steinfeld, IMS senior vice president and general counsel, said:  "the Court of Appeals violated basic constitutional principles when it  allowed the [New Hampshire] government to adopt barriers to truthful  discussions about important medical questions." He added that "this  decision jeopardizes both speech and commerce, including market  research, data collection and dissemination, financial analysis,  consumer studies, credit verification and important publishing  activities."