Massachusetts drug rep licensing proposed

11 June 2006

Massachusetts could become the first US state to license drug company sales representatives, imposing on them a blanket prohibition of providing travel, entertainment, gifts or payments to either public officials, health care operators or physicians.

The restriction has been proposed by state Senator Mark Montigny, a Democrat, as an amendment to the Massachusetts budget. State Sen Montigny, in a bid to ensure that his proposal has the best chance of becoming law, has also introduced the measure as a separate bill in the legislature. "I'm not going away on this issue. We need to ban all manipulation of drug-prescribing practices," he said.

Sen Montigny's proposed legislation has come under attack for being an extremist response from critics who perceive the proposals as "regulatory over-kill." Peter Pitts, a former Associate Commissioner for External Relations at the Food and Drug Administration and now director of the Center for Medicines in the Public Interest, said: "well heaven forbid that a sales force should be compensated on sales!" He added, "perhaps Medicare reimbursement for physicians in Massachusetts should be based on results. After all, if physicians need to be protected from 'dollar-driven' sales representatives then perhaps consumers need to be protected from 'reimbursement-driven' physicians."

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