The U.S. Supreme Court handed the pharmaceutical industry two major victories on Thursday. In one case – a First Amendment decision – the court, by a 6-to-3 vote, struck down a Vermont law that barred the buying, selling and profiling of doctors' prescription records – records that pharmaceutical companies use to target doctors for particular pitches.
And in a second, the court ruled 5-to-4 that the makers of generic drugs are immune from state lawsuits for failure to warn consumers about possible side-effects as long as they copy the warnings on brand-name drugs.