Category Archives: Prescription Drug Reform

Despite widespread opposition among Council members, the Public Health Council voted this morning to enact final regulations on meals provided by the drug and device industry to doctors and other prescribers. The regulations approved today keep intact the expansive, subjective … Continue reading →

Tomorrow morning (Wednesday 11/21), the Public Health Council will be voting on final regulations implementing the changes to the pharma gift ban and marketing regulations. Over the summer, the legislature changed the law to allow drug and device companies to … Continue reading →

(Click on picture above to see full video report)   Thursday at the State House, some 20 medical students and physicians joined with Health Care For All, Community Catalyst, Representative Jason Lewis, and others to bring attention to Friday’s DPH … Continue reading →

Today the Department of Public Health approved temporary regulations that make a mockery of the legislature’s changes to the state’s drug and device marketing restrictions, further eroding doctor-patient protections (see joint press release from HCFA, AARP, MassPIRG and Community Catalyst … Continue reading →

Glaxo-Smith-Kline’s ‘pheasant hunting junkets in Europe’ and other illegal kickbacks to doctors show that the strongest possible ban on inappropriate gifts is needed. (Guest commentary by Wells Wilkinson, from Community Catalyst’s Prescription Access Litigation Project) Yesterday’s new record-breaking settlement of … Continue reading →

AARP is the largest membership organization in the Commonwealth, with over 800,000 members in Massachusetts. With state budget conferees about to make the final decision on the prescription drug marketing gift ban, they have revved up their engines for a … Continue reading →

Last week, WBZ-TV reporter Jon Keller turned his investigative eye to the pharmaceutical marketing gift ban. Who is suffering because Massachusetts law prohibits drug companies from showering doctors with fancy gifts and trinkets, as part of their marketing efforts to … Continue reading →

As the House and Senate budgets head into conference committee negotiations, a new study reaffirms what we already know: prescription drug marketing coupons are a bad deal for health care consumers. The study, The Cost of Drug Coupons, published in … Continue reading →

Around noon Friday the Senate approved their budget on a 36-0 vote. The Senate bill contains no language to weaken or repeal the pharmaceutical and medical device gift ban law. Senator Petruccelli’s so-called “restaurant rejuvenation” amendment did not come up … Continue reading →