PhRMA slams US state of Mass law

New legislation in the US state of Massachusetts, which places limits on gifts that drugmakers can give medical professionals, was signed by Governor Deval Patrick, and has been strongly criticised by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), which just weeks earlier announced its own code of practice with respect to this area of activity (Marketletter July 21).

PhRMA senior vice president Ken Johnson said: "Governor Patrick's decision to sign S2863 is deeply disappointing - and very likely damaging for medical partnerships, clinical research and patients in Massachusetts. The leadership in the state - particularly Governor Patrick - has done much to foster pharmaceutical research and expand patient access to innovative medicines in the state, culminated by the enactment of the Life Sciences Initiative just a few months ago. Unfortunately, Section 14 (Chapter 111N) of S2863 threatens to undermine these promising efforts"

He continued: "the language in question, which would require public disclosure of payments between pharmaceutical research companies and health care providers, could chill ongoing clinical research in the state. Massachusetts has many academic medical centers with health care professionals who provide patient care, but who also conduct research in partnership with pharmaceutical companies. Physicians and other health care providers who do not want such personal information disclosed may decide to no longer work with pharmaceutical research companies sponsoring clinical trials, which could hold up the development of important new medicines for patients. Public disclosure of a pharmaceutical company's arrangements with principal investigators of its clinical trials also could reveal sensitive, proprietary business information to a company's competitors. This could erode the independent decision-making of companies trying to bring science from research facilities to patient care settings."