Bradley Merrill Thompson, a Member of the Firm in the Health Care and Life Sciences practice, in the firm’s Washington, DC, office, was quoted in Bloomberg BNA Medical Devices Law & Industry Report, in “Reject Off-Label Drug, Device Promotion Bills, Groups Tell Lawmakers,” by Bronwyn Mixter. (Read the full version – subscription required.)

Following is an excerpt:

Bradley Merrill Thompson, a health-care attorney at Epstein Becker & Green PC in Washington, told Bloomberg BNAin a June 5 email, “off label use is in fact widespread already” and “physicians are right now making decisions about how to use drugs and devices in ways not discussed” in labels.

“The question is really whether medical device or pharmaceutical companies should be permitted to share the best information with these physicians to help inform their decision-making, decision-making they are already engaged in,” Thompson said. “It's hard to understand how organizations can categorically be opposed to the sharing of truthful and accurate scientific information. Indeed it's by the sharing of such information that our overall knowledge base advances.”

Thompson said the groups that sent the letter “raise a variety of problems they anticipate, but it seems like the better solution would be to attack specifically those problems, rather than bar the sharing of scientific information.” Thompson is a Bloomberg BNA advisory board member.

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