Nature Publishing Group (NPG) and online physician community Sermo announced a partnership to facilitate the discussion and interpretation of content in leading NPG medical journals by US physicians. Financial terms were not disclosed. Under the deal, NPG will add “Discuss on Sermo” links to the online versions of articles in 12 of its medical journals, including Nature Medicine, Nature Clinical Practice Cardiovascular Medicine, and Leukemia. These links will allow US physicians reading the journals to create or join discussions of the articles in Sermo’s knowledge-sharing community of 50,000 physician members.
IMS acquired MIHS Holdings, whose two subsidiaries—IHS and MedInitiatives—provide analytics and technology services designed for healthcare data management.
In a statement, IMS said managed markets services represent “a significant growth opportunity,” as drug makers seek greater efficiencies from non-core operations and payers look for new ways to contain costs. IHS complements IMS’s services in validating rebate claims and optimizing contracting performance, while helping clients measure and evaluate their effectiveness in this area. MedInitiatives, a healthcare analytics company, provides payers and supporting vendors—primarily PBMs—with insights and technology to manage prescription drug costs.
Synovate Healthcare, the healthcare arm of international market research agency Synovate, beefed up its oncology therapy area, purchasing US market research firm Oncology Inc. Oncology Inc.’s proprietary research, which includes treatment information from 100,000 US patients, will be incorporated into Synovate Healthcare’s global oncology portfolio, its single largest therapy area. Synovate said it can now offer clients the ability to purchase a customizable, electronic, “longitudinal” patient diary study, additional physician panels, a PDA platform and other custom research solutions.
