Ventiv Health Inc., MDS Pharma Services,and Paul Capital Partners have joined forces to provide lifesci ences companies with a broad range of development, commercialization,and investment support. The alliance combines the drug discovery and development expertise of MDS Pharma Services,the commercialization expertise of Ventiv Health, and the investment expertise of Paul Capital Partners, a private equity fund founded in 1991. The aim of the alliance is to assist lifesciences companies to rapid ly develop and effectively commer cialize drugs in the later stages of development.The parties also will pro vide mutual business development referrals and introductions to existing clients and new prospects, with each of the parties being a preferred provider in its area of expertise. “MDS Pharma Services, a leading provider of technologyrich services, information, and products to the drug discovery and development industry, views this alliance as a further extension of our reach in offering value to our clients’ needs,” says Doug Squires, president of MDS Pharma Services.“By lever aging our worldclass development expertise with the commercialization knowledge and capital of our partners, we enhance our strategic position in the later stages of drug development.” “This alliance enables us to offer clients an even broader array of services and sup port while enabling us to pursue a wide range of new business,” says Eran Broshy, CEO of Ventiv Health. “MDS Pharma Ser vices’ global capabilities in drug develop ment and Paul Capital’s expertise and cap ital enable us to target our efforts andbuild custom programs to better meet the needs of companies and products.” According to Dr. Walter Flamenbaum, managing partner of Paul Capital, the alliance allows the leveraging of com bined resources and to effectively pursue and perform due diligence on a wide range of investment opportunities among the many lifesciences companies in need of capital and support. Popular Science cites SCRIPTALK talking prescriptions as one of top 2001 achievements EnVision America Inc.’s innovative ScripTalk Talking Prescription System, designed to simplify drug safety instructions, has been named one of the year’s top 100 greatest achievements in science and technology by the editors of Popular Sciencemagazine. The ScripTalk System enhances the medication safety of the millions of Americans whohave difficulty reading or understanding the instructions and warnings that appear on their prescription labels. The ScripTalk System includes a special label containing an embedded microchip. The “smart label”is printed and programmed by the pharmacy’s computer system and contains all the prescription label informa tion. At home, the patient uses a handheld ScripTalk Reader that speaks the pertinent prescription information such as: patient”s name, drug name and strength,directions for use, along with spe cial warnings. The system is the first in a new generation of livesaving pre scription compliance devices based upon smartlabel technology. Several leading drugstore chains are planning to make the ScripTalk technology available this year. ePocrates SIGNS AGREEMENT with two J&J companies Ventiv Health, MDS Pharma Services, and Paul Capital Partners LINK UPTO SERVE lifesciences industry Alliance provides support to assist companies develop and commercialize latestage drugs WHAT’S NEW NEW HEALTHCARERELATED PRODUCTS, SERVICES, AND COMPANIES In a deal that will bring more electronic informa tion from two drug companies to physicians, ePocrates has signed agreements with Ortho McNeil Pharmaceutical Inc. and McNeil Consumer Healthcare, two operating companies of Johnson & Johnson. Under the terms of the agreements, ePocrates is distributing customized handheld devices to physi cians nationwide,providing themwith the ePocrates Rx drug reference guide,as well as articles from lead ing medical journals, and clinical content providers. This allows OrthoMcNeil and McNeil Consumer Healthcare to communicate with selected physi cians on a regular basis through the network ,pro viding them with important medical updates rele vant to their practices. “Because we update our databases several times a week, we can make sure that physicians have immediate access to new drug information,includ ing medical content from leading peerreviewed journals,” says Jeff Tangney, cofounder and VP of business development at ePocrates. The ePocrates Rx drug reference, which contains definitive data on crucial safety topics such as indi cationspecific dosing, adverse reactions, and multi ple drug interactions, was developed to address the daily challenges faced by physicians in providing accurate,uptodate information on 99% of the most commonly prescribed drugs. In addition, ePocrates Rx includes the AutoUpdate feature, which automat ically updates data on the physician’s Palm OS hand held device each time the doctor performs a Hot Sync operation while connected to the Internet. ScripTalk simplifies drug safety instructions through the use of a microchip technology that translates written information into oral instructions. Dr. Walter Flamenbaum is managing partner of Paul Capital. WHAT’S new 74 J a n u a r y / F e b r u a r y 20 0 2 PharmaVOICE Healthcare directory publisher unveils STATEGIC MARKETING DIVISION Dorland Healthcare Information, a nationally recognized company with five decades of expertise in defin ing healthcare markets, has announced plans to offer its knowledge of the healthcare industry as a marketing service provider to other healthcare and pharmaceutical companies. The newly formed division, known as The Retention Solutions Group, offers a series of creative marketing initiatives that can lead to significant increases in corporate profits. Included in the division’s core strengths are defining target markets, acquiring and retaining customers/patients/members, and tracking return on invest ment. A component of this marketing strategy includes creating synergy between and among pharmaceuti cal companies,managedcare organizations,employer groups,professional organizations,and healthcare com panies. “ Through market analysis and segmentation,we felt our extensive healthcare experience would be partic ularly useful in aiding other compa nies with their own customer and patient retention,”says Bob Graham, CEOofDorlandHealth.“By providing new techniques in print, emarket ing, ehealth platforms, and our cus tomized strategic marketing plans, we can successfully build loyalty and reduce attrition within a com pany’s patient/clientbase.” Robert E. Brown Jr., managing partner at Meridian Venture Part ners, the private equity investment firm that owns Dorland, adds, “The ability to use more than 50 years of healthcare information experience and to apply it to healthcare market ing creates a phenomenal opportu nity. Dorland’s knowledge of the healthcare industry, combined with its recently launched marketing services, enable the company to create significant value for customers and partners.” The Retention Solutions Grouphas started to accepta widearray of clients since its inception in November2001. URAC releases book on EHEALTH ETHICS URAC, in partnership with the Internet Healthcare Coalition,has released a book on the major ethical codes and guidelines for health Websites. The publication — The New Frontier: Exploring eHealth Ethics— includes a variety of articles contributed by online health community leaders on topics including privacy and security, consumer trust, quality, and over sight of online health. The publication also includes detailed results of the URAC/Harris Interactive survey of consumers’attitudes toward health Websites. “This book is important because it is the first and so far the only volume written by many of the individuals and organizations directly involved in the effort to develop and implement a universal code of ehealth ethics,” says John Mack,president of the Internet Healthcare Coalition and executive editor of The New Frontier.“While there is much work yet to do to achieve this ultimate goal, one might say that what comes after will be built upon the shoulders of these leaders.” The New Frontier offers information to members of the healthcare community who are grappling with the everexpanding role of the Internet to disseminate health information and services. Petra Wilson of the Directorate General for Information Society, European Commission,and a contributor to the book,says,“The translation of ethical frameworks in healthcare into the nascent ehealth environment is one of the burning issues of the moment.Onboth sides of the Atlantic,scholars,medical and legal practitioners,and policy makers are questioning the validity of the old standards in the newworld — this book sets the scene on the key issues and will provide fuel to the debates which will continue for some time to come.” The book compiles influential ethical codes by the Internet Healthcare Coalition,HiEthics, the American Medical Association, and the American Health Information Management Association, as well as URAC’s Health Website Accreditation standards. Primary survey data regarding consumers’ attitudes toward health Websites and accreditation also is available in the appendix. Franklin adds KEY MEDICAL REFERENCES to electronic selection Franklin Electronic Publishers, a worldwide provider of handheld electronic books and medical reference products, has launched three medical ref erence titles from Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a publisher of professional health information, boost ing Franklin’s library of essential reference works for healthcare professionals. TheWashington Manual of Medical Ther apeutics — 30th Edition, Stedman’s Medical Dictionary — 27th Edition, and Griffith’s 5 Minute Clinical Consult, 2001, are now avail able for Franklin’s eBookMan and for Palm OS handheld devices, with support for Windows CE/Pocket PC devices scheduled for release by the end of the year. “The ability to offer preeminent medi cal references like The Washington Manual of MedicalTherapeuticsis an important step in building a comprehensive, wellknown, and trusted library of medical content for handheld devices,” says Toni Tracy, presi dent of Franklin’s Medical Division.“We will continue to leverage our longstanding relationship with LWW to provide the infor mation the medical community needs in real time, as technology and medicine improves.” Established for more than 40 years, The Washing ton Manual of Medical Therapeuticsis the topselling medical reference.The 30th Edition has been updat ed to include the most recent and accurate dosages and patient management recommendations. The 27th edition of Stedman’s Medical Dictionary is the result of revision and critical review by 44med ical consultants as well as a team of editors and lexi cographers. The new edition includes an update of all specialties,especially in the terminology of genet ics, oncology, pediatrics, pulmonology, emergency medicine, bacteriology, and laboratory medicine. Griffith’s 5Minute Clinical Consult, 2001 is a quick reference guide to current medical diagnosis and treatment.The guide covers more than 1,000 medi cal/surgical conditions and includes basics, diagno sis, treatment, medications, followup, and miscella neous considerations. Written by more than 330 experienced clinicians, this edition has been updat ed to reflect contemporary practice norms and includes a list of Websites to reference various dis eases online. The Washington Manual of Medical Therapeuticsis available for $69.95 for BookMan andPalm OSdown loads and $99.95 for a Handspring Springboard module. Stedman’s Medical Dictionary is available on an eBookMan MMC card for $99.95. A Handspring Springboard module is expected shortly. Griffith’s 5 Minute Clinical Consult, 2001is $59.95 for eBookMan and Palm OS downloads. Bob Graham, CEO, Dorland Health WHAT’S new The journal is available online, free of charge,until April 15,2002,at http://mct.aacrjournals.org.After the free trial period,access to full text HTML andPDF ver sions of articles will be limited to subscribers only. However, access to tables of contents, article abstracts, and the fulltext search features will con tinue to be available to the public. “This is an extraordinary time to be doing cancer research,”says editorinchief Daniel D.Von Hoff,M.D., who also is the director of the Arizona Cancer Center in Tucson. “There is great promise that new discoveries at the bench will be rapidly brought to the bedside to reduce the death and suffering caused by cancer. AACR is proud to offer Molecular Cancer Therapeutics as a critical new forum to shape these vital research fields, create synergies among them, and maximize their collective impact on cancer. Molecular Cancer Therapeuticsis defining and exploring the next fron tier of cancer research,”Dr.Von Hoff says. Dr.Von Hoff is joined by a distinguished group of deputy editors: Jeffrey M. Trent, Ph.D., National Human Genome Research Institute, Bethesda, MD; Susan P. C. Cole, Ph.D.,F.R.S.C., Queen’s University Can cer Research Institute, Ontario Canada; and O. Michael Colvin, M.D., Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center, Durham, NC; and an internationally diverse editorial board of more than 100 research scientists. Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, which was launched at the AACRNCIEORTC International Con ference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeu tics, is the most recent addition to the library of AACR scientific cancer research journals that includes Can cer Research— the world’s most frequently cited cancer journal — Clinical Cancer Research,Cancer Epi demiology,Biomarkers & Prevention, and Cell Growth & Differentiation. Founded in 1907, the AACR is a professional organization of more than 17,000 laboratory and clinical scientists engaged in cancer research in the United States, Canada, and more than 60 other countries. 75 PharmaVOICE J a n u a r y / F e b r u a r y 2 0 02 THEAMERICANASSOCIATION FOR CANCERRESEARCH,Philadelphia, is a professional organization of more than 17,000 laboratory and clinical scientists. For more information,visit aacr.org. DORLANDHEALTHCARE INFORMATION, Philadelphia, is an independent healthcare directory publisher.For more information, visit dorlandhealth.com. ENVISION AMERICA INC.,Normal, Ill.,has been developing products for the visually impaired and senior populations since 1995. For more information,visit envision america.com. EPOCRATES INC., San Carlos, Calif., is a handheld physician network,enabling pointofcare access to clinical informa tion. For more information,visit epocrates.com. FRANKLIN ELECTRONIC PUBLISHERS INC.,Burlington,N.J., is a market leader in handheld electronic books.For more infor mation,visit franklin.com. LIPPINCOTTWILLIAMS &WILKINS, Philadelphia, is an international publisher of professional health information.For more information,visit lww.com. MDSPHARMA SERVICES,Toronto, Ontario,a unit of MDS Inc.,offers resources to meet the drugdiscovery and develop ment needs of the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. For more infor mation,visit mdsps.com. PAUL CAPITAL PARTNERS,NewYork, is a private equity fund that has raised and managed more than $1.8 billion in 13 funds since its founding in 1991.For more information,visit paulcap.com. TAP PHARMACEUTICALPRODUCTS INC., located in Lake Forest, Ill., is a joint venture between Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, Ill., and Takeda Chemical Industries Ltd.,Osaka, Japan. For more information,visit www.tap.com. URAC,Washington,D.C.,offers Website accreditation programs for healthcare and managedcare organizations.For more information,phone 2022169010 or visit www.urac.org. VENTIV HEALTH INC., Somerset,N.J., is a provider of outsourced marketing and sales solutions for the pharmaceutical and lifesciences industries. For more informa tion, visit ventiv.com. Follow up A journal edicated to the relationship between basic science and cancer therapeutics has been released by the American Association for Cancer Research.The monthly publication was launched in November 2001. The journal — Molecular Cancer Therapeutics— is the first publication to address the interrelation ship among eight important research areas vital to preventing and curing cancer: experimental cancer therapeutics, identification of molecular targets, tar gets for chemoprevention, new models, cancer chemistry anddrug discovery, molecular and cellular pharmacology, molecular classification of tumors, and bioinformatics and computational molecular biology. American Association for Cancer launches MOLECULAR CANCERTHERAPEUTICS JOURNAL Tap promises prevacid satisfaction with MONEYBACK GUARANTEE program In a moneyback guarantee offer, Tap Pharma ceutical Products has launched a patientsatisfaction program called Prevacid Promise. Under the program, patients using Prevacid, a proton pump inhibitor for the treatment of gastroe sophageal reflux disease, can return the product if they are not fully satisfied with treatment results at the end of the treatment period. In 2000, Prevacid was the thirdbestselling pre scription medication in the U.S. Currently, the Tap Pharmaceuticals’product is the mostprescribed pro tonpump inhibitor for new prescriptions and is the first among topselling prescription medications to offer this type of guarantee. Gastroesophageal reflux disease, also known as GERD, is a chronic disorder that can result in serious complications such as esophageal strictures and Barrett’s esophagus. Heartburn is one of the most common symptoms of GERD and approximately 25 million Americans suffer from heartburn daily. Yet a vast majority of GERD sufferers do not consult a physician about their problem. Prevacid is up to 95% effective in the healing of erosive GERD, although individual results may vary. Additionally,Prevacid is the only PPI indicated for the healing and risk reduction of gastric ulcers associae. “The Prevacid Promise is a commitment Tap is making to all Prevacid patients to guarantee satisfac tion with our product,”says Art Rice,VP of marketing at Tap. Patients interested in enrolling in the Prevacid Promise should consult their healthcare professional.
