PRNewswire - Wednesday November 15, 2000

Through Veritas Medicine's new resource, patients and physicians gain relevant information based on personal needs and attributes, such as phase of disease, age and gender, without revealing their identity. The resource is also available to millions of additional users through leading health-related non-profit organizations and .coms, such as AEGIS, HIVandHepatitis.com, Lifespire, MedicineNet.com, Your Doctor.com, HealthOnline, HepCBC-Hepatitis C Education and Prevention Society, and the Arthritis National Research Foundation.

Seventy-five million people are diagnosed with chronic illnesses each year in the U.S., but fewer than five percent participate in the thousands of clinical trials and innovative treatments developed annually. Patients and their caregivers have historically encountered difficulty in identifying, gaining access to, and making sense of relevant clinical trials and innovative therapies. This has resulted from a lack of a centralized online resource that provides comprehensive treatment options from both public and private sectors -- along with reliable corresponding information to help make sense of options. In addition to a dramatic impact on patients and their families, the lack of trial participation has severely impacted the entire health care industry. For example, pharmaceutical companies, who have been reluctant to post proprietary information online due to competitive concerns, typically spend 40 weeks trying to find suitable patients, sacrificing more than $1 million each day a new drug is delayed from the market.

"Veritas Medicine is transforming the clinical trials industry with the launch of our new online resource, which enables patients and physicians to identify highly relevant treatment options, and to make well-informed choices about those treatment options," said Joe Avellone, M.D., CEO of Veritas Medicine. "Veritas Medicine provides the most comprehensive breadth of public and private trials through our partnerships with world-class pharmaceutical companies; we provide original and reliable information about the range of relevant treatment options through our relationships with Harvard- and Tufts- affiliated physicians; we protect patient and pharmaceutical confidentiality through our secure, patent-pending technology; and we provide users with relevant trial information through our personalized matching system. This unique combination makes Veritas Medicine's resource highly valuable for all involved."

Veritas Medicine is addressing security and confidentiality concerns with technology developed by the former co-lead of network security at M.I.T. This patent-pending security architecture enables patients and physicians to receive information about relevant trials without revealing their identity. The enhanced security features also appeal to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies that have been reluctant to post proprietary information online due to competitive fears.

Relationships with World-Class Physicians Augment Access to Trials

In addition to the initial challenge of identifying relevant trials, patients and physicians have had difficulty in making sense of treatment options due to outdated, confusing or unreliable corresponding information. To address this, Veritas Medicine is working with respected physician/scientists from Harvard- and Tufts-affiliated hospitals, each who specializes in conditions currently featured by Veritas Medicine. These physicians continually develop easy to understand analysis and information about the latest breaking trials and treatments worldwide.

"There is significant confusion and frustration among patients and physicians regarding the scope and relevance of new treatments for serious illnesses," said Veritas Medicine's acting Chief Medical Officer William Rodriguez, M.D., Harvard Medical School. "As an active researcher and a practicing physician, I am thrilled to be working with Veritas Medicine to provide accurate, understandable and current information about trials and treatments to help patients and caregivers make informed choices about their health care. Veritas Medicine is highly valuable for any patient diagnosed with a life-altering illness."

Veritas Medicine is embarking on an aggressive strategy to bring its powerful technology to millions worldwide. The company's partnerships with information-rich health and medical resources such as Lifespire.com, a leading cancer resource, and the online publication HIVandHepatitis.com, enable patients to access comprehensive trials information from other valuable Web destinations.

"Lifespire is partnering with best-of-breed companies, such as Veritas Medicine, to create a complete resource that will serve the entire cancer community," said Joelle Gropper Kaufman, President and CEO of Lifespire. "By working in partnership with Veritas Medicine, we are giving cancer patients and their physicians more options through Lifespire's clinical trials and interactive treatment and care services."

Ron Baker, Editor in Chief and Publisher of HivandHepatitis.com said, "Patients with HIV and hepatitis come to our site for practical, reliable information about treatment options for their chronic conditions." He added, "Our quality online publication is pleased to partner with Veritas Medicine to offer our thousands of visitors access to innovative treatment and trials opportunities."

Stephen Knight, M.D., Chairman of Veritas Medicine said, "Veritas Medicine was founded specifically to bring significant benefit to chronically ill patients, their families and their caregivers, by providing them with a single online resource that combines the greatest breadth and depth of clinical trial information available today." He continued, "Currently, patients and their physicians cannot easily find appropriate clinical trials. Similarly, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies have trouble finding patients for their trials, slowing the progress of drug development. We are attempting to create an efficient information marketplace for clinical trials so that patients and their physicians can make informed decisions."

About Veritas Medicine

Veritas Medicine, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is the first comprehensive online medical resource developed to address the needs of patients, physicians and other health care professionals, and pharmaceutical sponsors -- all of whom can benefit from a centralized and highly secure online resource that provides expert, reliable and up to date information about clinical trials and innovative treatments. Founded in October 1999, the company is backed by Burrill & Company, BioAsia's Biotechnology Development Fund II and E-Health Holdings Fund,

Cambridge Incubator and Seaflower Ventures. Veritas Medicine is the industry answer for those facing life-threatening and chronic illnesses, and pharmaceutical and biotech companies trying to bring new treatments to market faster.

SOURCE: Veritas Medicine

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