States fight to shield docs from drug data mining

"By selling data that allows pharmaceutical sales representatives to see which doctors are prescribing which drugs, the AMA is giving drugmakers what they need to exert more influence," Kohl said.

With controversy swirling around its pharmaceutical industry business, IMS has begun highlighting other uses for its data, including government and academic research. Frankel said government demand for prescribing data will only increase as policymakers across the country try to control mounting health care costs.

"What we've done has served the public extraordinarily well over the last decade, but the reality is that cost has become an issue," Frankel said. "That's changed the paradigm and we are changing with it."