Revolution Health has acquired the online properties HealthTalk and SparkPeople in an attempt to dethrone WebMD as the Web's No.1 health destination. Financial terms of the deals were not disclosed.

Lilly USA president Deirdre Connelly yesterday took a swipe at online forums that attract disgruntled, venting sales reps, describing sites like CafePharma.com as "outlets for people who don't have the courage to speak out with their ideas" for improving their roles and the performance of their companies.

Online juggernauts in the consumer space, Yahoo! and WebMD announced today that they have inked an exclusive multi-year search and advertising distribution agreement. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The New York Times recently expanded its NYTimes.com Web site offering to include a new section focused on consumer health and wellness issues.

Pfizer has signed on as the first pharmaceutical client of Sermo, the online community for physicians.

Microsoft today announced that it has made the leap into the online consumer healthcare space by offering free personal health records on the Web.

Google yesterday sought to pour cold water on rumors that the company is looking to get into the healthcare or advertising and media services businesses.

Online ad spend by the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry will hit $975 million in 2007, a gain of 19% over 2006, according to a report unveiled this week by market research firm eMarketer.

Elsevier is upping the ante for online medical publishing with an advertising-supported website for physicians using content from most of its more than 100 oncology titles.

Med Ad News and PharmaLive.com publisher, Engel Publishing Partners, has been acquired by Los Angeles-based Canon Communications, Canon announced today. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.