E-MEDIA NEW ELECTRONIC AND WEBBASED APPLICATIONS, SITES, AND TECHNOLOGIES FDAnews has launched Drug Industry Daily, an electronic daily publication that provides news coverage of what’s happening on Capitol Hill, in the courts, and at the Food and Drug Administration, the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health, and other key agencies and decisionmak ing bodies that affect the pharmaceutical industry. “It’s never been harder, or more important, to keep track of all that’s going on and who the players are,” says Cynthia A. Carter, president of FDAnews. “The drug industry is under fire from many directions, from pric ing to safety. Multiple bills are in Congress, countless lawsuits are in the courts,and FDA enforcement actions are aimed straight at drug companies’ bottom lines.” Each daily electronic briefing covers issues such as, drug patent legisla tion, FDA drug review and enforcement activity, medication errors, FDA appropriations, program funding, FDA advisory committee results, state drug rebate programs, and bioterrorism. URACAccreditation Specific Search Engine GIVES CONSUMERS CONFIDENCE IN WEBSITES URAC has launched VitalSeek, a healthrelated search engine that allows users to limit their search es to URACaccreditedWebsites.Limiting searches to URACaccredited sites is expected to increase con sumers’ trust in search results. VitalSeek is a physicianfounded organization that develops filtered search tech nologies for healthcare stakehold ers. The VitalSeek search engine has a selection of more than 50 topics from which to choose, ranging from AIDS to weight issues, or individuals can search by keyword. In addition to seeking accredited sites,users can engage a number of filters, includ ing privacy level, reading level,tradi tional or alternative health, as well as site, content, and resource filters that look at quality of coverage, the type of site, target audience, availability of mes sage boards,online tools, and more. The URACHealthWebsite Accreditation standards cover issues, including health content editorial pro cess, disclosure of financial relationships, links to other Websites, privacy and security, and mechanisms for consumer complaints. A recent Pew study reported that 73 million Americans look for health information online each year. In a January 2001 survey conducted by Harris Interactive, three of four consumers said an accredi tation seal would increase their trust level in health Websites.Moreover,the same survey found that 96% of consumers would prefer a search engine that list ed results for health Websites according to whether or not they were accredited. Electronic Publication DELIVERS INDUSTRYNEWSDAILY The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufactur ers of America has relaunched its Website, www.phrma.org. The redesigned Website enables visitors to find more information about new medicines in devel opment, patient assistance pro grams, key policy issues, and other topics affecting patients and the important role medicines play in saving lives and improving quality of life. Consumers will be able to search by particular interests, such as Medicare prescription drug coverage, cancer medicines in development, or news about cuttingedge biotechnology drugs. Internet users will receive e mail updates of developments in their areas of interest. “Prescription medicines are the best value in healthcare, keeping people out of hospitals and nursing homes and reducing the need for surg eries,” says PhRMA President Alan F. Holmer. “With more than 1,000 medicines in develop ment today, including 400 for cancer, America’s pharmaceuti cal companies lead the way in the search for new cures. The Internet site is one more way for patients to learn about new drug discovery and develop ment.” The newURAC search filter is available at www.vitalseek.com. Cynthia Carter In the past year, more than 2 million people visited our Website. We believe this new design will enable even more people to use our Website as a central source of answers to questions about healthcare and the future of medicine. Alan F. Holmer PhRMA Launches USERFRIENDLYWEBSITE FORPATIENTS Intellisphere LLC has released two new net guides:DO net guide, a publication designed to provide osteo pathic physicians with a collection of Internet resources and articles dealing with osteopathic medicine and pain management, and Focus on AfricanAmerican Health Careas a quarterly journal. Included in the DO net guideare listings for clinical Websites,patient resources, and online CME,as well as fea tures on opioid prescribing,patientphysician email, the Partners Against Pain Website,and doonline.org.DO net guide was made available to osteopathic physicians via the September issue of the American Osteopathic Asso ciation’s The DO.AWebsite, located at www.donetguide.com,was developed in conjunction with the print piece. To address the health needs of AfricanAmerican patients, beginning in January 2003, Intellisphere LLC will publish MD net guide: Focus on AfricanAmerican Health Care. The new journal was born of research that con firmed that this patient population has been illserved by the current medical system.The publication will give physicians with AfricanAmerican patients a reliable guide to Internet resources to improve the quality of life within this patient population. Intellisphere Launches Two Resources Guides FOR SPECIALTY PHYSICIANS Drug Industry Daily delivers the unbiased news every day, so readers get the latest word as the story unfolds, from beginning to end. PharmaVOICE Emedia Solucient has released ProviderView, a database providing comprehensive, uptodate, clinical, and financial data. The Internet based tool allows instant access to more than 900 financial and operational elements for nearly every acutecare and longterm facility in the country, and fea tures 2001 Medicare Provider Analysis and Review data com bined with five years of the lat est Medicare Cost Reports. “Sound clinical and financial measurements are essential at every turn in the delivery of qual ity care, whether you’re an insur er, a hospital CFO, or you’re plan ning to deliver new technology to the healthcare provider,” says Pauline Reisner,senior VP of Solu cient. “ProviderView is the workhorse that delivers that comprehensive set of compara ble performance indicators.” Solucient Offers UptoDate CLINICAL,FINANCIAL DATABASE Hospital administrators can tap into ProviderView for the combined power of analyzing how their departmentlevel clini cal measures and operational costs compare with other hospi tals. Healthcare payers, consul tants,and others in the healthcare market also can rely on Provider View as a credible, neutral source for trend comparisons and nego tiations. ProviderView users benefit the most from the Internetbased tool’s ability to leverage cost data, which is updated weekly, as facili ties submit their information, as required by Medicare, to their financial intermediaries. As a result, ProviderView has the most comprehensive and uptodate financial data possible. The tool downloads reports on specific hospitals, by userspecified finan cial and clinical indicators. Documentum has introduced ECM Solution for Life Sciences,which is designed to meet the special ized content management requirements of biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and medical device companies; clinical research and organizations; con tract manufacturers; and govern ing bodies that regulate these industries. The solution will help compa nies comply with regulatory poli cies, ensure that products are brought to market as quickly as possible, and that regulatory penalties, such as fines, manufac turing stoppages, or product recalls, are avoided. Documentum products manage Web content, power portals, enable collaborative commerce, and solve regulatory content challenges.The Documen tum ECM Solution for Life Sciences is a combination of Documentum and partner products, best prac tices, shared standards, project templates, and con sulting services. Based on Documentum’s core ECM technology, the solution enables lifecycle control of all documents,such as new drug applications;audit ing of content creation, revision, and approvals to ensure regulatory compliance; and sharing and reuse of projectrelated content for team collabora tion in product development and clinical trials. The solution also supports crossorganizational collabo ration, making it possible for companies to work securely with partners in joint research and development or clinical trials, and interact with regulatory agencies for regulatory submissions. In support of the new offer ing, Documentum has formed the Life Sciences Global Industry Group, which is focused on ensuring customer success. To accelerate solution implementa tion, Documentum will provide consulting services, guidance on industry best practices and industryspecific project templates, and accelera tors.The company has teamed with several leading services providers,who also have extensive industry expertise,and will offer consulting and implementa tion support to Documentum customers. In addition, Documentum is establishing a Life Sciences Advisory Council to bring together these customers in a semiannual forum. Through this venue,customers will have the opportunity to share best practices, learn from their peers, gain insight into Documentum’s future strategic direction, and provide feedback on how that direction meets their needs. Life Sciences Content Management Solution Provides REGULATORY,MARKETGUIDANCE ADCOMMBULLETIN FEATURES IMMEDIATE REPORTS on Selected U.S. FDA Advisory Committee Meetings Liquent Inc. has launched the AdComm Bulletin — timely and succinct reports delivered via email that highlight issues discussed at selected U.S. FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research and Center for Biologic Evaluation and Research meetings. TheAdComm Bulletin is designed so readers can scan the entire summary andgodirectly to the infor mation they need. Results are emailed between 30 minutes to 2 hours after the meetings end so that regulatory professionals can be up to date with FDA decisions regarding new product launches, product approvals and withdrawals, clinical trials, advances in new drug classes, and other critical biotechnology and pharmaceutical developments. “The AdComm Bulletin supplies valuable com petitive intelligence in a concise yet thorough for mat,” says Rick Dool,president and CEO of Liquent. “There is simply no easier or faster way to learn about critical developments and voting decisions at the FDA.Since the AdComm Bulletin arrives automatical ly, subscribers never have to remember to actively check other information sources to uncover the reg ulatory intelligence that can affect their company.” MULTIMEDIACARDS Provide Instant Access to Clinical Information Franklin Electronic Publishers Inc. has launched MultiMediaCard editions of its top medical refer ences.The MMCs are designed to plug into SD/MMC expansion slots found on PDA handheld devices and enable healthcare professionals to have instant access to the content they need. All the information the user needs is included on the MMC,so there is no need to download and sync the content.Because the cards run independently of the PDA’s main memory, users can add new titles to their collection without worrying about running out of memory. “PDA editions of the core group of clinical refer ences are used by physicians, physician’s assistants, nurse practitioners, residents and interns, and other healthcare professionals,” says Christine Martire, Franklin’s eHealth business development director. The current collection of Medical MMCs includes: 2002 Pocket PDR fromThomson Medical Economics; AHFS Drug Information 2002, from the American Society of HealthSystem Pharmacists; The Merck Manual, Centennial Edition,from Merck & Co.; Harri son’s Manual of Medicine, and the Emergency Medicine Library from McGrawHill Education; The Washington ManualofMedicalTherapeutics;Griffith’s 5Minute Clinical Consult 2002; and Stedman’s Medi cal Dictionary from Lippincott Williams &Wilkins. The Documentum ECM Solutions will help companies avoid regulatory penalties, manufacturing stoppages,and product recalls. According to Pauline Reisner, ProviderView delivers a comprehensive set of comparable performance indicators for clinical and financial measurement. Pauline Reisner PharmaVOICE Emedia PharmaVOICE Biografix has launched its newWebsite,which displays examples of its new Biogeek Grafix Kit Version 4.0, a collection of medical clip art images and presentation backgrounds that are designed to provide a complete solution for creating bioscience/biotech/biology diagrams, illustrations, brochures, fliers, and Powerpoint pre sentations.The art can be accessed at www.biogeek.com. CENTERWATCH AND HEALTHSCOUTNEWS FORMALLIANCE to Distribute ClinicalTrial News News and information about clinical trials and the development of newmedical treatments will be made available through an alliance between Center Watch and The HealthScoutNews Service. CenterWatch will provide daily updates on recent ly initiated clinical trials and on FDA drug approvals to support a new Clinical Trials Update feature available from the HealthScoutNews Service to its clients, both on the Internet and in print.The Website will offer clin ical trialrelated news items provided by HealthScout News journalists.The HealthScoutNewsService reach es about 10 million readers a month. “It has always been our goal to make clinicaltrial information accessible through as many channels as possible,” says Paul Molinari, manager of strategic alliances at CenterWatch.“We are interested in collab orating with HealthScoutNews based on their com mitment to providing a highquality and timely con sumer health news service.” BIOGRAFIX,Danbury,Conn.,was created by a small group of working scientists who saw the need for a convenient and easytouse clip art collection. For more information,visit biogeek.com. CENTERWATCH,Boston, is an information services company that focuses on the clin icaltrial industry and offers a variety of publications and services for clinical research and health professionals, patients, and health consumers.Center Watch is a part of The Thomson Corp. and a division of Thomson Healthcare.For more information, visit centerwatch.com. DOCUMENTUM,Pleasanton,Calif., is an enterprise content management provider, automating the production,exchange, and personalization of all types of content. For more information,visit documentum.com. FDANEWS,Falls Church,Va., is a provider of domestic and international regulatory, legislative, and business news and infor mation for executives in industries regu lated by the U.S. Food and Drug Adminis tration and The European Commission.For more information, visit fdanews.com. FRANKLINELECTRONICPUBLISHERS INC.,Burlington,N.J., is a worldwide market leader in handheld electronic books and a producer and distributor of personal information management products.For more information, visit franklin.com. HEALTH INFORMATION RESOURCECEN TER,Libertyville, Ill., is a national clearing house for consumer health programs and materials. For more information,visit healthawards.com. HEALTHSCOUTNEWS,Norwalk,Conn., is a division of ScoutNews LLC, a privately held news and information company.For more information, visit healthscoutnews.com. INTELLISPHERE LLC,Plainsboro, N.J.,pub lishes a series of journals focused on the Internet and technology,and how they are related to the practice of medicine.Titles include MD net guide,composed of a vari ety of specialties such as Primary Care, Cardiology, and Neurology, and Oncology net guide.For more information,visit mdnetguide.com. LIQUENT INC., Fort Washington,Pa., is a provider of content assembly, publishing, and regulatory and intellectual property information solutions for the lifesciences industry. Liquent is part of the Intellectual Property Group of Information Holdings Inc. For more information,visit liquent.com. THEPHARM CEUTICALRESEARCH ANDMANUFACTURERS OFAMERICA, Washington,D.C., represents the country’s leading researchbased pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies,which are devoted to inventing medicines that allow patients to live longer,healthier, and more productive lives. For more information, visit phrma.org. SOLUCIENT,Evanston, Ill., is a source of healthcare business intelligence, providing comprehensive, resultsoriented informa tion to drive business growth,manage costs, and deliver quality care. For more information, visit solucient.com. URAC,also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission, Washington,D.C., is a leader in the accredi tation of health and managedcare orga nizations and offers 14 accreditation pro grams that span a broad spectrum of healthcare services. For more information, visit urac.org. Follow up NewWebsite Features 3D BIOTECH CLIP ART for Medical Marketing and Advertising WWWHealthAwards The World Wide Web Health Awards is a program that recognizes the best health related Websites for consumers and profes sionals. The program is held twice a year — spring and fall — with the goal of providing a “seal of quality” for electronic health informa tion. The World Wide Web Health Awards is organized by the Health Information Resource Center, a national clearinghouse for consumer health information programs and materials. SPECIAL AWARDWINNERS: Best Graphic Design Concord Hospital www.concordhospital.org Best Site Structure and Navigation St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System www.stlukestexas.com Best Interactive Site HealthAtoZ.com www.healthatoz.com Most Innovative Site Center of Excellence for Medical Multimedia,The Virtual Medical Center www.vmedcenter.org Best ECommerce Site Empire BlueCross BlueShield www.empireblue.com INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT
