We are never going to get CVS data!
Researcher Renews CVS Fight Over Prescription Data
LinkedIn By Lance Duroni
Law360, New York (April 28, 2011) -- IMS Health Inc. has renewed its claims against CVS Caremark Corp. for allegedly breaching contracts to provide the market research firm with prescription data, according to a lawsuit unsealed Wednesday in Delaware.
CVS, the largest prescription provider in the U.S., has not lived up to a settlement of previous litigation reached in March between the two companies whereby CVS agreed to resume supplying the data, “thus necessitating this follow-on action,” IMS said in a heavily redacted complaint originally filed April 15.
The original suit, filed in February, said CVS was bound by three separate contracts to provide the data, without which IMS did not have a representative sample of the prescription market on which to base its research. The companies entered into an undisclosed settlement agreement and related reinstatement agreement March 7 and the lawsuit was dismissed, according to court documents.
“IMS has made repeated attempts, without success, to persuade defendants to honor their obligations and to avoid further litigation,” the complaint said.
Norwalk, Conn.-based IMS uses the prescription data to create reports that are vital to drug recall programs, academic and medical researchers, law enforcement authorities, health agencies and pharmaceutical distributors, according to the suit.
The data compiled by IMS for its reports on individual prescription sales include information about the prescriber; the dosage and quantity of the product; the cost of the drug and who paid for it; and the age and gender of the patient, though names are not disclosed. The firm also compiles information on the wholesale purchases made by the pharmacy itself, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit seeks specific performance under the settlement agreement and damages.
David R. Marriott of Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP, an attorney for IMS, said at a Feb. 14 hearing that IMS’s competitors were attempting to take advantage of the hole in its research, contacting the firm’s customers to provide replacement data, according to a transcript of the proceeding.
“We need the data. We can’t get the data from anywhere else. And we have a contractual right to the data, period,” William M. Lafferty of Morris Nichols Arsht & Tunnell LLP, another IMS attorney, said at the hearing.
A representative for CVS did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
Founded in 1954, IMS is “the world’s leading provider of information, research, and analysis to the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, with data collection and reporting activities in more than 100 countries,” according to the complaint.
CVS is one of the country's largest pharmacy benefits managers, with a network of more than 64,000 pharmacies.
CVS is represented by Gregory V. Varallo and Scott W. Perkins of Richards Layton & Finger PA and Foley & Lardner LLP is of counsel.
IMS is represented by Leslie A. Polizoti and William M. Lafferty of Morris Nichols Arsht & Tunnell LLP and Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP is of counsel.
The current case is IMS Health Inc. v. CVS Pharmacy Inc. et al., case number 6388, in the Delaware Court of Chancery.
The settled case is IMS Health Inc. v. Caremark LLC et al., case number 6174, in the same court.
--Editing by Eydie Cubarrubia.
