NEW ELECTRONIC AND WEBBASED APPLICATIONS, SITES, AND TECHNOLOGIES
Free drug samples handed out to patients in a physician’s office soon may be replaced with printed vouchers that physicians retrieve online for patients to redeem at a pharmacy free of charge. MedManage Systems Inc., an innovator in alter native prescription drug sample management, is leading the way toward this shift in drug sampling practices with its latest service offering, eMedSample, which provides physicians with online access to vouchers for free samples of specific medications. Physicians log onto the eMedSample Website, with a user ID and password,select the product sam ple they would like to print, and give the printed voucher to the patient. Patients can then take the printout to one of more than 55,000 pharmacies that MedManage is contracted with,where the patient receives the sam ple medication free of charge along with a pharma cy consult. “Sampling is the most effective way of influenc ing physician prescribing habits, and is an important element in the healthcare process,” says Zachary Hector, president and CEO of MedManage Systems. “Physicians need information about new medica tions and need to trial them on patients before pre scribing them on a longterm basis. But with more and more sales representatives and a stable number of doctors with less time to meet with them, phar maceutical and healthcare organizations require improved mechanisms for drug product sampling. Internet solutions, such as eMedSample, provide physicians with flexible access to samples and assist pharmaceutical manufacturers in generating pre scriptions for the products.” Leading a Shift in DRUG SAMPLING Practices Phase Forward Delivers ONLINETRAINING Services For Worldwide Customer Base In an extension of its worldwide eservices options, Phase Forward Inc. has launched its InStruct Online solution, the elearning component of its InStruct training portfolio. Through this offering, Phase Forward has extended its worldwide services options to ensure that clinical research teams have the tools they need to leverage the value of the compa ny’s solutions. The service is a response to demands for multisite training, brought about by the growth of its Webbased clinicaltrial data management solutions. InStruct Online is based on Phase Forward’s on site training program. Phase Forward’s training pro gram has been refined in more than500 instructorled training sessions held at customers’ research sites and Phase Forward’s training centers. Customers opting for the online solution now can access training 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The service administers tests, tracks results, provides reports, and delivers certificates of comple tion. “Online training is a practical solution to scaling global clinical trials,” says Jennifer Cotteleer, VP, tech nology transfer at Phase Forward. “We are confident that the clinical teams will find InStruct Online a con venient option,one that maximizes the value of their training time and allows them to transition smooth ly from the training environment to the workplace.” In August,Phase Forward acquired Clinsoft Corp.,a provider of clinical research systems.With this merger, Phase Forward solidifies its position as the leading supplier of eclinical systems for drug development. The company now provides a seamless Webbased solution that integrates the industry’s leading front end clinical trial management system, InForm, with the leading backend clinical data management sys tem,Clinsoft’s Clintrial solution. Healthology Inc. has joined forces with several media companies in an effort to bring its Internet based health content to a wider audience. The pri vately held media company, which produces and distributes physiciangenerated health and medical information on the Internet, has linked up with U.S. News & World Report, Tribune Interac tive Inc., and AP Digital. Under the agreement with U.S. News &World Report, a national weekly news magazine, Healthology’s library of health programs are being made available through U.S. News & World Report’s Website, usnews.com. “Broadband is here, and usnews.com wants to offer consumers helpful con tent in as many flavors as possible,” says Chris Noo nan Sturm,usnews.com editor. Heathology also entered into a deal withTribune Interactive, a subsidiary of Tribune Co. Healthology has agreed to distribute streaming video and physi cianauthored content to Tribune’s network of more than 30 news and information Websites. Tribune Interactive’s Websites include 11 newspaper sites, such as chicagotribune.com,latimes.com,and news day.com; 22 television station Websites, such as wgntv.com ( WGNTV, Chicago), ktla.com (KTLATV, Los Angeles), and wb11.com (WPIXTV,NY);and a nation al community site BlackVoices.com. And in a third alliance, Healtholo gy’s content is being made available to users of AP Digital, a division of the Associated Press that offers news ser vices to the Web and wireless markets from AP bureaus worldwide. All three deals bring Healthology’s library of near ly 1,000 video programs to a wide range of Internet users.The programs cover a host of subjects related to health and medicine. HEALTHOLOGY Joins Forces with MEDIAGROUPS to Widen its Networks Samples given out in physicians offices present various safety issues, including: Access to physical samples are often uncon trolled. Physical samples are often stored in ways that compromise the integrity of the medication. With physical samples dispensed in the physi cian’s office, patients miss out on the benefit of a pharmacist checking the medication order and monitoring patient response. Samples given out at physicians’ offices often don’t have safety labeling, and aren’t cross ref erenced against contraindicated medications. Advantages of pharmacydispensed eMedSamples: Pharmacists dispense free trials of the medica tion in a childproof container properly labeled with instructions andwarnings. Vouchers carry a lower risk of theft and abuse than actual samples because they require a physician’s signature to be redeemed. (Under the Prescription Drug Marketing Act, copying, selling, or trading paper vouchers is a felony that is punishable by a $250,000 fine and 10 years in prison.) The voucher system ensures that patients receive fresh medication every time. Vouchers provide greater tracking mechanisms,allowing pharmaceutical companies to comply with fed eral regulations regarding sample distribution and assisting physicians and healthcare orga nizations to meet accrediting standards set by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. SAMPLESVERSUSVOUCHERS Broadband is here. Chris Noonan Sturm Emedia 75 PharmaVOICE N o v e mb e r / D e c e m be r 20 01 MSDSonline is offering a new launch disk for its recent ly released MSDSadvantage service. The disk enables envi ronmental health and safety officials to access material safetydata sheets from the Internet, download the docu ments to their desktops, and deploy the MSDS service throughout their company. “We make the entire pro cess of moving these compli ancecritical documents from supplier to end user as simple as possible,” says Greg Buch holz, president and CEO of MSDSonline. “By leveraging the efficiencies of today’s Internet technologies, we can offer our MSDSadvantage ser vice at an affordable price.” According to Mr.Buchholz, the goal of the progam is to be a onestop shop for all the company’s customers’ MSDS needs. “Our MSDSadvantage service is the only solution focusedon solving the end user’s need to access MSDS documents from a single source,while provid ing the capabilities to more efficiently manage and deploy that information throughout an organiza tion,”says Mr.Buchholz. MSDSadvantage is aimed at companies that use products containing potentially hazardous sub stances. The MSDSadvan tage launch disk connects MSDSonline’s network of MSDS content from more than 13,000 leading sup pliers. The service is avail able for an annual sub scription price of $279. Access to COMPLIANCE SAFETY DATA Available via the Internet National Data Corp., also known as NDCHealth, offers an audit tool for the pharmaceutical industry. NDC Pharmaceutical Audit Suite is aimed at phar maceutical manufacturers,advertising agencies,and industry consultants. The tool offers forecasting, competitive analysis, sales targeting and profiling, and sales performance measurements. “Using the Webbased NDC Pharmaceutical Audit Suite, our customers can conveniently analyze trends in U.S. pharmaceutical prescription product sales through retail, mail order, and institutional facil ities,” says Walter M. Hoff, CEO of NDCHealth. The suite offers data on a monthly or weekly basis. Historical sales can be analyzed with five years of product sales performance data available online. A wide range of views can also be accessed via NDCHealth’s audit suite, including all therapeutic classes and prescription products,as well as detailed views of geographic markets in which pharmaceuti cal products are sold. NDCHealth Announces AUDITSUITE to Help Companies ANALYZE PHARMATRENDS Website Offers Guidance to ASTHMA SUFFERERS An Internet site aimed at helping asthma suffer ers control their condition has been launched. Free Breather.com, which is sponsored by Schering/Key Pharmaceuticals, teaches asthma management techniques through graphics that help users identi fy asthma triggers, learn how to prevent symptoms from occurring, and understand what steps to take during an asthma episode. “As research sheds more light on the complexities of asthma, it is clear that patients can improve their quality of life byproactively managing their condition,” says Richard W. Zahn,president of Schering Laborato ries. “As asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases in the United States, it is vital that patients have the tools to monitor andmanage their condition and prevent potentially devastating asthma attacks. ” “FreeBreather.com is different from other health related Websites because it allows users to interact, rather than simply read pages of text,” says Melissa KorenblatHanin, licensed clinical social worker. “By giving people information, strategies, support, and coping techniques, this site helps people manage their asthma on an ongoing basis and under many different circumstances.” ScheringPlough markets Proventil HFA, a short acting bronchodilator, which relaxes the smooth muscle around the airways. The site features the following sections: . All AboutAsthma — information and video fea tures on a range of asthma topics . Your Pollen and Weather Report — provides users with local pollen counts and weather condi tions according to Zip codes . Goals Planner — helps users set and reach per sonal asthma management goals HEALTHOLOGY INC. is a NewYork based online health media company. For more information visit, healthology.com. NDCHEALTH,a provider of health infor mation services, is based in Atlanta. For more information visit, ndchealth.com. MEDMANAGE SYSTEMS is a privately held company located in Bothell,Wash., and Short Hills, N.J. For more information, visit medmanagesystems.com or emed sample.com. MSDSONLINE develops esolutions for the management of material safety data sheet documents.For more information visit, msdsonline.com. SCHERING/KEY PHARMACEUTICALS, is a business unit of Schering Laboratories, the Madison,N.J.based U.S. pharmaceutical marketing arm of ScheringPlough Corp. For more information visit, freebreather.com. PHASE FORWARD INC.,Waltham,Mass., offers solutions for accelerating global pharmaceutical development.For more information visit, phaseforward.com. Follow up Unlimited, 24/7 access to every MSDS document available through the net work Webenabled tools,whichallowusers to search, save, view, and print new or revised MSDSs directly from the Inter net MSDS management software that enables users todownloadandmanage their documents fromadesktopPC MSDSonline’s proprietary BinderSync technology, enabling oneclick down loading of MSDS documents from the Internet to the MSDSadvantage soft ware BinderView, optional Internet or Intra netdeployment capabilities Request an MSDS allows users to request documentsnotyetavailable via the network Single annual subscription fee THEMSDSADVANTAGE THE COSTTOHEALTHCARE: $12 billion a year in the U.S. THE COSTTOBUSINESS: About 3 million lost work days for adults, and more than 10 million missed school days THE PERSONAL COST: In 1995,1.8 million emergency room visits were attributed to asthma THE GROWINGCOST: Asthma’s prevalence grew 75% between 1980 and 1994, according to the Centers for Disease Control ACOMMON PROBLEM: More than17millionAmericans haveasthma; in 1995 an estimated 5 million American children had the disease,according to TheNational Insti tutes of Health report. THE ANNUALCOST OFASTHMA