Consumer group sues Vermont attorney general

Public Citizen wants details of drug makers’ lobbying expenditures

By Shay Totten | Vermont Guardian

posted August 29, 2005

BARRE — One of the nation’s top consumer advocacy groups — Public Citizen — is taking Vermont’s Attorney General Bill Sorrell to court in hopes of forcing the release of how much drug makers are spending to lobby doctors, pharmacists, hospitals, and market directly to consumers.

According to the lawsuit, in December 2004, Public Citizens Health Research Group sent the attorney general’s office a request under the states open records law seeking all the pharmaceutical company reports from the attorney generals office for July 1, 2002-June 30, 2003.

In January and May 2005, the attorney general provided complete records, including doctor’s names, from many drug companies, but refused to release any information from pharmaceutical companies that had designated their information as a “trade secret.” The withheld information came disproportionately from many of the largest drug companies, reducing the usefulness of any analysis of the data provided, Public Citizen alleges.

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