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D.C. passes bill to license pharmaceutical representatives

Pharma Compliance Alert, January 16, 2008

The D.C. Council passed the SafeRx Act of 2007 last week by a 7 to 6 vote, becoming the first jurisdiction in the country to require pharmaceutical sales representatives to obtain a license, according to the Washington Post.

As reported in the December 19 issue of Pharma Compliance Alert, the Act requires pharmaceutical sales representatives to be licensed by the D.C. Board of Pharmacy, be college graduates, follow a code of ethics, and refrain from providing gifts to physicians. The bill allows for a sales representative's license to be revoked if his or her activities are deemed fraudulent.

The section of the bill that banned data mining was removed before the final vote. Data mining laws have faced a tough road. Similar laws on data mining were enacted in Vermont, Maine, and New Hampshire, but the Maine and New Hampshire laws were struck down by the courts. The case involving the Vermont law is currently pending.

The bill adds a requirement for physicians to include new pharmaceutical product and trend information in their continuing education mandates to learn more about the industry, as well as new instructions for the D.C. Health Department to track the effectiveness of the bill from fines collected to number of licensed salespeople after the end of 2010.

According to the Washington Post, pharmaceutical companies say the SafeRx Act is not needed because the industry is already regulated by federal agencies and sales representatives are monitored by the American Medical Association.

Click here to read more in the Washington Post.

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