Attention pharmaceutical marketing professionals: yet another state is tightening their regulations on marketing procedures.
On August 2nd, the state of Colorado passed a law that requires prescription drug manufacturers, representatives, agents or employees of the manufacturer to provide the wholesale acquisition cost on any and all medications to prescribers at the time of marketing. This means that the list price that was paid by the wholesaler, prior to any discounts, must be made aware to the potential customer. This statute comes just several months after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services instituted price transparency on direct-to-consumer television advertisements for biologics and prescription medication, and 14 years after the Vermont Pharmaceutical Marketer Price Disclosure law was instituted.
The Colorado law specifies that pricing information must be put in writing, impart the names and WAC of 3 generic prescription medications from the same therapeutic category and all listed information must be accurate. The new law continues to explain the term prescription drug marketing to include not only face-to-face detailing by a manufacturing sales representative, but also telephone conversations, mailings, video conferencing, emails or texts, or fax transmissions that provide educational or marketing information or material regarding a prescription drug.
Essentially, this bill suggests that physicians and other healthcare professionals with the ability to prescribe, are not as informed as they should be when it comes to the costs of prescription drugs, whether they be brand-name or generic. Full price disclosure will equip prescribers with necessary information to help them make better financial decisions for their business. By considering other alternatives for their practice, their patients could save money and ultimately stifle prescription drug rates.
Regulation laws such as this are impactful and must be followed. Pharmaceutical companies must do their due diligence to create disclosures and properly train their marketing teams on what can and cannot take place when marketing prescription medications.
Failing to do so could be costly.
Redi-Data believes in transparency of all aspects within the pharmaceutical industry, and we work earnestly to ensure your pharmaceutical marketing campaigns are compliant with any and all.
For questions on our lists, direct marketing services or about your marketing campaigns, please contact us at sales@redidata.com or 973.227.4380.