D.C. Effort to License Drug Sellers Advances

"As soon as it passes, it does nothing to enhance the health of our citizens," he said.

Council member Harry Thomas Jr. (D-Ward 5) said the legislation was so flawed from the beginning that he had a document before him yesterday with 38 revisions "to the point that you can't even read the bill."

"If it's so bad with so many edits . . . let's just start over," he said.

Thomas stopped Catania from rebutting his statements. "I'm not asking a question, so I don't want a response," he said.

But other council members came to Catania's defense, with council member Phil Mendelson (D-At Large) saying that amendments, part of the normal legislative process, had made the bill better.

Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) dismissed the arguments of some opposing council members that the pharmaceutical industry and doctors could police themselves. "To say just trust the business is to say trust the oil companies, trust Enron," he said.

Under the bill, salespeople would have to be licensed and sign a code of ethics and would be regulated by a pharmacy board. To qualify for a license, the representatives, dubbed "detailers" in industry lingo, would have to be college graduates. They would also have to refrain from using titles that would give the impression that they are licensed to practice pharmacy, nursing or medicine.

The bill, which has several parts, also would ban pharmaceutical manufacturers from engaging in a practice called "data mining," when doctors' prescription data are used for marketing purposes without their knowledge and consent.

Critics say the information trickles down to detailers who can then target a doctor for a particular drug by looking at his or her prescribing habits. District doctors could opt in to the program to allow firms to get their prescription data from pharmacies.

The pharmaceutical group and the AMA both argued that the data mining is often used for research. "It is the AMA's position that an opt-in system would have substantially the same effect as an outright ban on the commercial use of these data, which would result in a major setback for the medical research community and the health outcomes that they are trying to improve," AMA Chief Executive Michael D. Maves wrote in a letter to the council.

New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont, which have passed similar legislation, are in court with data collection companies and manufacturers fighting the new laws. New Hampshire is appealing the decision of a U.S. District Court judge to block the state from enforcing its new data mining law on the grounds that it restricts commercial free speech.

The District could face the same fight, council members said.

Catania said that is to be expected. "They are taking their playbook from the tobacco industry," he said. "Sue, sue, sue."