Companies creating online adherence tool for prescription, other brands

Companies creating online adherence tool for prescription, other brands

OPTIMIZERx and interactive healthcare agency S&H Digital are parterning to create, market, and manage customized patient adherence programs for prescription and healthcare brands. The product, ADHERxE, provides a platform to build compliance programs that allow brands to engage, monitor, and support patients each month. The platform provides educational support and allows patients to activate monthly copay coupons in exchange for entering a branded Relationship Marketing program. Patients will complete a survey to determine their treatment status and reengaged through e-mails, reminders, and other programs based on their survey results.

HealthiNation Announces $7.5 M in Series B Funding Led By Intel Capital

HealthiNation Announces $7.5 M in Series B Funding Led By Intel Capital

Secures New Partnerships with Leading Online Publishers

 

September 30, 2008, New York, NY — HealthiNation, a leading digital health video network, announced $7.5 million in Series B funding led by Intel Capital. Previous investor MK Capital also invested in the round.  In addition, HealthiNation announced an expansion in its online video network, including partnerships with LifeScript, UCompare Healthcare, PARADE Magazine, and Guideposts Magazine.

“We view this as a pivotal moment for our company,” said Raj Amin, president and CEO of HealthiNation. “With the resources of Intel Capital behind us and the continued expansion of our online video network with world class properties, we will continue to lead the way in bringing more people our premium quality programs to help them stay healthy.”

HealthiNation’s premium quality video programs are created for consumer audiences, delivering unbiased, medically-reviewed content delivered in short entertaining episodes.  HealthiNation’s experts are featured in each episode, covering a wide variety of diseases and conditions like diabetes and heart disease, along with everyday health topics like nutrition, first aid, and family health.  The new funding will support the company’s growth in programming, ad sales and operations for its core media network along with new offerings for health literacy environments such as employer health programs, hospitals, and health clinics. 

“As more consumers seek relevant health information online, engaging content - such as video - will be the key to effective communication,” said Alex Marquez, director, Digital Home, Intel Capital. "HealthiNation has the potential to play a pivotal role in the field of health information and wellness.”

HealthiNation’s online video network has more than tripled in monthly viewership so far this year, and will expand with additional world class partners including:

• Lifescript.com, a leading website dedicated to women’s health
• UCompareHealthcare.com, a part of About.com, provides consumers with access to quality ratings and related information on hospitals, mammography centers, fertility clinics and doctors
• Parade Magazine, Parade.com is the online home of PARADE, the most widely read magazine in America.  Parade.com’s HealthyStyle channel offers a variety of health and nutrition information, which will be complemented by the HealthiNation videos.
• Lee Enterprises, a leading newspaper publisher with 53 daily newspapers with rapidly growing online presence and presence in 23 states
• Guideposts Magazine, the online destination of the leading publication that features stories and features on  faith, spirituality and personal development 

“Our research shows that readers of PARADE and Parade.com are hungry for health-related information,” says Allison Werder, SVP/Business Development.  ”The addition of HealthiNation’s video programs will give our visitors a richer experience that complements original daily content, tools and search features available on PARADEs HealthyStyle channel.”

 

These new properties join HealthiNation’s existing online partners including world class properties such as Yahoo! Health, US News and World Report, and Answers.com who have chosen HealthiNation as their partner for premium quality health video.  HealthiNation is also available on television through video-on-demand in more than 20 MM homes across the US through leading companies including Comcast Cable, Verizon, Cox Communications, and Charter Communications.  

ABOUT HEALTHINATION, INC.

HealthiNation is a leading health video company, whose goal is to educate and inspire people to make healthier choices.  HealthiNation produces original health-themed video programs that cover disease and condition education, along with patient stories, health tips, original series, and healthy lifestyle programs.  The company launched its multi-platform consumer health network in June 2006.  Programs can be seen on www.healthination.com and through partnerships with leading cable companies and internet media properties including Yahoo! Health, Comcast Cable, Cox Communications, Verizon, and US News and World Report.  HealthiNation is headquartered in New York City, and its investors include Intel Capital and MK Capital.   For more information on HealthiNation, please visit www.healthination.com.

About Intel Capital

Intel Capital, Intel's global investment organization, makes equity investments in innovative technology start-ups and companies worldwide. Intel Capital invests in a broad range of companies offering hardware, software, and services targeting enterprise, home, mobility, health, consumer Internet, semiconductor manufacturing, and cleantech. Since 1991, Intel Capital has invested more than US$7.5 billion in approximately 1,000 companies in 45 countries. In that timeframe, 168 portfolio companies have gone public on various exchanges around the world and 212 were acquired or participated in a merger. In 2007, Intel Capital invested about US$639 million in 166 deals with approximately 37 percent of funds invested outside the United States. For more information on Intel Capital and its differentiated advantages, visit www.intelcapital.com.

 

New Web site provides videos, education about cancer

New Web site provides videos, education about cancer

Supportive Oncology Services (SOS) has launched UnderstandingCancer.tv, a multimedia Web site with information for cancer patients and their caregivers. SOS helps cancer clinics define and improve the quality of cancer care provided. UnderstandingCancer.tv is a video resource containing information about cancer diagnosis, treatment, and possible side effects. SOS says the videos have been developed, reviewed, and approved via a national editorial board of community-based oncology professionals throughout the United States. Previously, the information was only available in approximately 90 top-tier oncology practices. UnderstandingCancer.tv has been accredited by the Health On the Net Foundation.

Online video watching doubles in year

Online video watching doubles in year

The number of consumers watching online video has doubled in the past year, according to a new ABI Research survey of online households in the United States. The number has gone from 32% one year ago to 63%. The growth is likely due to an increase in rich content available in ad-supported format, as well as increasing demand from consumers, ABI said. Nearly half of respondents under age 25, and 53% of those aged 25–29, said they watch long-form content, such as TV shows or movies, online once per month or more. Yet three-quarters of online video watchers over age 65 say they have never watched TV shows or movies online.

Claymation Demos 'Help People Understand Complicated Things'

Claymation Demos 'Help People Understand Complicated Things'

Source:
http://www.marketingvox.com/claymation-demos-help-people-understand-comp
licated-things-041166/

Would you rather listen to a talking head explain how to use their
"innovative Web 2.0 service" - or watch Gumby do a song-and-dance about
it?

Assuming most people would choose the latter, Invoke Labs launched
Claytorial (http://claytorial.com/), a website that, under the premise
of helping "people understand complicated things!", creates appealing
claymation videos for clients' products, ideas or services.

Claytorial artists start by drawing a visual map of the company's idea.
Then they bring them to life as moving images in a video sketch:

So far, the company has only one major client: tagga.com, a company that
- as MarketingVOX discovered after watching the "claytorial" - enables
instant creation of SMS and mobile sites for promotion, sales, and
personal communication:

A brief glance at tagga.com's website, which sports the logo "Handy
information. To go!", does not quite clarify what the company does, who
can/should use its services, and what the added value is.

After watching the claymation demo, however, it becomes clear that tagga
covers the trifecta:

1. Consumers who want to send web content (e.g., news feeds,
data) to their mobile

2. Marketers who want to easily create mobile sites and SMS
campaigns

3. Publishers who can get more revenue by adding tools like
"send to mobile" on their website.

In short, viewers are left with a basic, resonating understanding of a
brand, product or service. As an added bonus, they may also be left with
a warm, fuzzy - and childlike - reaction to the claymation tutorial.

Epocrates: One million MobileCME courses have been completed

Epocrates: One million MobileCME courses have been completed

One million Epocrates MobileCME courses have been completed, the company
announced. This milestone establishes mobile learning as a standard in
the CME industry, Epocrates reports, adding that since April 2005,
healthcare professionals "have turned idle time into productive learning
sessions." A third-party study by Outcomes, Inc., showed that physicians
who completed the MobileCME courses were more likely to apply
recommended treatment for a specific disease than other mobile users.
Epocrates says mobile-based CME is projected to grow by 40% between 2006
and 2011, citing Ambient Insights 2007.

Online games offer brain workout to boomers, sponsorship opps to marketers

Online games offer brain workout to boomers, sponsorship opps to
marketers

Online social network BOOMj has teamed with HAPPYneuron online brain
games to provide online brain fitness games that aim to help people stay
mentally fit. There's also opportunity for sponsors to place their
messages around the HAPPYneuron games. BOOMj members will have free
access to HAPPYneuron's brain fitness games on the BOOMj Web site.
HAPPYneuron offers games that target the five major cognitive brain
functions of memory, attention, language, executive functions, and
visual/spatial skills. Members will receive reward points toward
purchases in the BOOMj store for playing the brain games. BOOMj targets
baby boomers and adults over age 35.

AOL Launches New Lifestyle and Pop Culture Sites; AOL Programming Hits Record Traffic Numbers in August

AOL Launches New Lifestyle and Pop Culture Sites; AOL Programming Hits
Record Traffic Numbers in August

Business Wire via NewsEdge :

Online Writers/Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--September 25, 2008--AOL announced the launch
of two new specialty sites, Lemondrop, http://lemondrop.com, which
covers women's lifestyle, and PopEater, http://popeater.com, which
focuses on pop culture. The new sites continue AOL's efforts to launch
experiences targeted at specific audiences. Both sites provide consumers
a forum to interact and engage in a fun and entertaining format about
lifestyle and pop culture features. In addition, AOL announced that
unique visitors and page views for its programming sites grew in August,
the nineteenth consecutive month of growth. Unique visitors climbed 5%
year-over-year in August, page views climbed more than 100%, and time
spent climbed 49%, according to the August 2008 comScore Media Metrix
report.

The new sites are supported by AOL's digital advertising business,
Platform-A, http://www.platform-a.com, which will identify key
opportunities for advertisers and provide relevant display advertising
and content-targeted links on the sites.

"As people change the way they use the Internet, we are continually
looking to offer more relevant content that targets people's passion
points," said Bill Wilson, Executive Vice President, AOL Programming.
"The new sites provide comprehensive engaging and interactive
experiences and offer a place for consumers and advertisers to connect
with programming that is truly dynamic. In addition, our continued
growth in traffic and engagement show that this approach is resonating
with online consumers."

Lemondrop is a women's lifestyle site for the 18-34 year old woman that
takes an informed, irreverent look at a range of lifestyle topics: news,
relationships, fashion, pop culture, politics, shopping, humor and water
cooler discussions of the day. The site informs, entertains and creates
a community around weird news, snacks, dating tips, cool products and
more. In addition to exclusive content, Lemondrop curates the best of
the Web in the rapid-fire, conversational style of today's twenty- and
thirty-something women and invites readers to join in the conversation
with their own perspectives. The site builds on the success of AOL's
men's site, Asylum, http://asylum.com, which launched in December 2007
and has already grown to be the No. 1 men's lifestyle site in the U.S.
with more than 4.1 million unique visitors in August.*

PopEater is focused on pop culture and is AOL's central location for
entertainment news, where the day's hottest entertainment stories,
gossip items, celebrity photos and Hollywood trends are brought to life
in an interactive experience. Previously, PopEater.com solely focused on
pop music, but AOL has expanded the site to include all of AOL News',
http://news.aol.com, entertainment coverage. With polls, videos, photos,
compelling galleries and many other features and franchises, PopEater
takes a snapshot of how the big story is evolving across the Web while
offering pop culture enthusiasts a chance to react along with it.

Since last year, AOL has launched over 20 specialty sites, including
Asylum.com, StyleList.com, BigDownload.com, Pixcetera.com,
ParentDish.com, TheBoot.com, WalletPop.com and Urlesque.com.

Many of AOL's programming sites are in the top three of their categories
for unique visitors, according to August 2008 comScore Media Metrix.
Asylum, http://asylum.com, Black Voices, http://blackvoices.com, Music,
http://music.aol.com, and StyleList, http://stylelist.com, are all No.
1. Horoscopes, http://horoscopes.aol.com, Latino, http://latino.aol.com,
Money & Finance, http://money.aol.com, Moviefone, http://moviefone.com,
and Television, http://television.aol.com, are in the top two. Living,
http://living.aol.com, and TMZ, http://tmz.com, are in the top three.**
In terms of page views, Money & Finance, Health, http://aolhealth.com,
Asylum and StyleList are number one in their categories, while Living,
Moviefone, Music, Black Voices and TMZ are number two, and Television
and AOL Latino are number three.

* comScore Media Metrix, August 2008.

** comScore categories Black Voices, Horoscopes, Latino, StyleList and
Asylum are custom built based on a self selected competitor list.

About AOL

AOL is a global Web services company that operates some of the most
popular Web destinations, offers a comprehensive suite of free software
and services, runs one of the largest Internet access businesses in the
U.S. and provides a full set of advertising solutions. A majority-owned
subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., AOL LLC and its subsidiaries have
operations in the U.S., Europe, Canada and Asia. Learn more at AOL.com.

AOL Corporate Communications

Alysia Lew, 212-652-6376

alysia.lew@corp.aol.com

State Keywords: New York

Industry Keywords: Women; Entertainment; Technology; Internet; Networks;
Communications; Advertising; Marketing; Online; Consumer

Source: AOL

<<Business Wire -- 09/26/08>>

97% of Adult Cancer Patients Do Not Take Advantage of Clinical Trial Programs

The Looming Crisis in Cancer Drug Development:

97% of Adult Cancer Patients Do Not Take Advantage of Clinical Trial
Programs

American Association for Cancer Research Aims to Raise Awareness about
the Importance of Clinical Trial Participation

September 24, 2008 * Philadelphia, PA /PRNewswire/

(http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/aacr/35116/)

News facts:

* Most Americans with cancer would be receptive to participating
in clinical trials if they knew about them.

o In a survey of 6,000 cancer patients, 85 percent were either
unaware or unsure that participation in a clinical trial was an option.
Seventy-five percent said they would have been willing to enroll had
they known it was possiblei.

o This lack of knowledge is leading to a crisis in cancer drug
development with 80 percent of clinical trials in the U.S. being delayed
because of unfulfilled enrollmentii.

* While clinical trials remain the only way to effectively test
potential new medications, fewer than 5 percent of adult cancer patients
participate in themiii. This lack of participation leads to delays in
clinical trials and slows patient access to new and possibly lifesaving
treatment options.

* The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), the proud
scientific partner of Stand Up to Cancer, a ground-breaking initiative
aimed at raising funds to accelerate cancer research and bringing new
therapies to patients more quickly, is committed to spreading knowledge
about cancer research and is on the front lines of the quest for
prevention and cure. AACR is taking a lead in raising awareness about
the urgent need to increase cancer clinical trial participation.

* Clinical trials are not for everyone, but if you have been
diagnosed with any type of cancer, talk to your doctor about whether a
clinical trial may be right for you.

* For information about AACR's progress toward the prevention
and cure of cancer, please visit www.aacr.org.

Commentary on clinical trials:

"The American Association for Cancer Research aims to educate the public
about what a clinical trial can offer and ensure people know all of
their treatment options, including clinical trials, at the time of their
diagnosis. Through this process patients can make an educated decision
when choosing their course of therapy with their doctor." - Raymond N.
DuBois, M.D., Ph.D. President, AACR and Provost and Executive Vice
President of Academic Affairs, M. D. Anderson Cancer Center

"The challenge is to make patients and healthcare providers more aware
of clinical trials. While more funds for research are needed, progress
also requires more participation in clinical trials." - Gwen Darien,
Director of Survivor and Patient Advocacy, AACR

"Cancer patients need to ask their doctors about clinical trials. It's
important to be proactive and find out about treatment options and
decide which is right for you." - Connie Mielich, cancer survivor and
clinical trial participant

"The care I received while participating in a clinical trial was the
best I've ever had. The healthcare providers were very attentive to my
needs. Some patients may have reservations about enrolling but I advise
people to ask their doctor about clinical trials and discuss it with
their loved ones." - Connie Mielich, cancer survivor and clinical trial
participant

About the AACR

Founded in 1907, the AACR is the world's oldest and largest professional
organization dedicated to advancing cancer research and the prevention
and cure of cancer. The membership includes more than 28,000 basic,
translational, and clinical researchers, healthcare professionals'
cancer survivors and advocates in the United States and 80 other
countries. AACR marshals the full spectrum of expertise from the cancer
community to accelerate progress in the prevention, diagnosis and
treatment of cancer through high-quality scientific and educational
programs.

i Harris Interactive survey - data on file
ii CISCRP's 101 Facts About Clinical Research: Treatment & Cures of
Disease." The Center for Information & Study on Clinical Research
Participation. July 2007.
http://www.ciscrp.org/information/documents/101FactsaboutClinicalResearc
h.pdf (16 Jan. 2008).
iii Lara P, et al. "Prospective Evaluation of Cancer Clinical Trial
Accrual Patterns: Identifying Potential Barriers to Enrollment." The
Journal of Clinical Oncology 19(2001):1728-1733.