New plan would require D.C. drug detailers to be licensed

Some states may follow the district's lead in directly regulating pharmaceutical sales representatives.

By Kevin B. O'Reilly, AMNews staff. Feb. 11, 2008.

The Washington, D.C., city council last month became the first legislative body in the nation to approve the licensing of drug reps. At press time, the bill was awaiting the signature of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, who supports the legislation.

The measure, dubbed SafeRx, would require detailers to pay a licensure fee, adhere to an ethics code, receive continuing education and refrain from misleading doctors about drugs. Sales reps could be fined up to $10,000 for operating without a license.

The last five years have seen several state bills aimed at licensing drug reps, said Sharon Anglin Treat, a state representative in Maine. She is executive director of the National Legislative Assn. on Prescription Drug Prices, or NLARx, a group of legislators in 17 states pushing for laws to restrict many forms of pharmaceutical marketing in an effort to slow prescription drug spending.

Now that one proposal is on the verge of becoming law, the idea could gain steam nationally, she said.

"Success often does breed other efforts," Treat said. "There is a tendency of legislatures to look and see what has passed somewhere else, instead of what hasn't passed."

The bill was spearheaded by D.C. Council Member-at-Large David A. Catania, who chairs NLARx. Ben Young, Catania's chief of staff, said the District of Columbia aims "to be the first place in the country where somebody's minding the store. ... We wanted to have a mechanism so that if there's false or misleading advertising we can revoke the license or impose a penalty and at least oversee the safety aspect."