West Virginia Shuts Down Data Mine

The nation's pharmaceutical industry can no longer tailor its pitches to West Virginia doctors and patients while armed with knowledge of which medications are taken by about 200,000 Mountain State residents, The Associated Press reports.

"The Public Employees Insurance Agency has asked its pharmacy benefit manager, St. Louis-based Express Scripts, to stop providing that information to drug manufacturers," AP's Tom Breen writes. "Advocates of ending the disclosures say the drug companies use the information to encourage doctors to prescribe brand name medications instead of cheaper, generic equivalents."