Prescribed Products

The Attorney General is responsible for enforcing Vermont’s consumer protection and disclosure laws concerning prescribed products. “Prescribed products” refers to:

pharmaceuticals (chemical compounds, e.g. prescribed pills),

biological products (derived from living material e.g. vaccines, blood derivatives), and

medical devices (e.g. surgical tools, artificial knees or hips), as well as any combination of these products (for example, a stent that releases drugs).

The Vermont Attorney General Office has placed special emphasis on ensuring that prescribed products, especially prescription drugs, are sold to consumers in a competitive and fair manner. The Attorney General has accomplished this through:

Prescription Drug Price Finder

Litigation

Marketing Expenditures Reports

Report on Free Samples

Implementation of the Pharmaceutical Marketer Price Disclosure Law

Prescription Drug Price Finder

Compare the cost of your prescription drugs in various pharmacies in your area by using the prescription drug price finder maintained by the Attorney General’s Office.

Litigation

The Attorney General’s Office has investigated and prosecuted allegations of anticompetitive conduct and violations of consumer protection laws by pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers, including, for example:

illegal agreements between pharmaceutical manufacturers to keep lower cost generic drugs off the market

illegal agreements between pharmaceutical manufacturers, and other practices by companies to keep prices artificially inflated deceptive claims by pharmaceutical manufacturers about their products, or about their competitors' products.

illegal marketing by manufacturers of off-label uses (not approved by FDA) of their products

failure to disclose potentially adverse side effects of pharmaceutical products

deceptive promotional and marketing practices by manufacturers, such as ghost-writing articles about the efficacy of products, or suppressing unfavorable results of clinical trials.

Marketing Expenditures Reports

The Vermont Attorney General is responsible for collecting and reporting on the marketing expenditures paid by manufacturers of pharmaceuticals, biological products and medical devices to Vermont health care providers. The office has been collecting data and publishing reports regarding pharmaceutical marketing since July 2002. Manufacturers must now also report expenditures for the marketing of biological products and medical devices, starting with the year July 1, 2009 through June 30, 2010; the Attorney General’s Office will release its report on those expenditures in early 2011.

Pharmaceutical Marketing Disclosures Reports, July 1, 2002 to present.

Public Data on which those reports are based.

Report on Free Samples

As directed by the Legislature in 2009, the Attorney General conducted an inquiry into the advisability of requiring disclosure of manufacturers’ distribution of free samples of prescribed products. The Attorney General’s report was issued on January 15, 2010.

Report of the Vermont Attorney General on the Advisability of Requiring Disclosure of Free Samples Distributed by Manufacturers of Prescribed Products to Vermont Health Care Providers

Audio Files of Testimony

Written Submissions

Pharmaceutical Marketer Price Disclosure Law

Vermont's Pharmaceutical Marketer Price Disclosure law, 18 V.S.A. § 4633, requires pharmaceutical marketers to provide doctors with comparative price information, so that doctors can take cost into consideration when prescribing drugs within a therapeutic class. The Vermont Attorney General has issued a Guide on how to comply with the law, model forms (short form and long form), and Frequently Asked Questions.