MDchoice,
Inc., a Leading Health Information Network,
Acquires HealthCentral.com,
Top-Rated Tools & Content Provider
* * *
MDchoice Network Properties Vault Into Number Three Spot Among Most
Visited Commercial Health Sites
December 11, 2001, Somerville, NJ - MDchoice, Inc. one of the
leading health information networks, has announced the acquisition of
HealthCentral.com, a top-rated information, tools and content provider,
with almost 900,000 unique monthly health-conscious visitors.
The acquisition
makes the MDchoice network one of the country's largest health portal
networks, now including MDchoice.com professional and consumer sites,
HealthScout.com, and HealthCentral.com. HealthCentral.com, which will
be owned and operated by MDchoice, Inc., is one of the most visited
health sites on the Internet, with almost 900,000 unique visitors for
the month of October, 2001, according to NetScore. HealthCentral.com
is rated number one for content by Gomez, an influential purveyor of
web quality.
"The addition of
HealthCentral.com's superb content and tools, including a robust medical library
of 30,000 pages, as well as its broad distribution, make the MDchoice properties
the health information network of choice," says Ash Nashed, MD, CEO
MDchoice.com, Inc. "This acquisition is consistent with our ongoing commitment
to quality and accuracy. We expect to integrate the best of each of our
award-winning sites throughout the network to provide the best resources
available in online health information."
"MDchoice's expanded
network will offer even more innovative and valuable opportunities for its
growing list of advertisers", added Robert Cecere, VP of Sales for MDchoice.com,
Inc. According to market researcher, @Plan, Healthcentral.com's visitors are
twice as likely as the average online user to purchase prescription drugs- and
25% more likely than those of our best-known competitors. Providing premier
brands and customized marketing products to one of the largest, qualified
consumer health audiences in the U.S. will make MDchoice network properties a
'must-buy' for many online health marketers."
About HealthCentral.com
HealthCentral.com (http://www.healthcentral.com) provides health-related
information and commentary from various sources and includes a proprietary
medical encyclopedia. Healthcentral delivers over four million opt-in
newsletters per month to health-focused subscribers. Of the more than 20,000
health sites on the Internet today, Gomez.com, a leader in online consumer reporting,
ranked HealthCentral.com #1 for health content. By providing verifiable and credible information
to consumers, Gomez.com helps consumers by determining what sites they can trust.
Dr. Dean Edell,
a co-founder of Healthcentral.com, will continue to provide health and
medical information for the site. Host of The Dr. Dean Edell Show-America's
second most popular syndicated radio talk show-Dr. Edell is heard on
more than 400 radio stations across the U.S. He has been seen on numerous
television health programs and has won many media awards for his on-air
work, including the C. Everett Koop Media Awards competition, the Edward
R. Murrow Award, a national Emmy, the American Cancer Society recognition
award, the American Heart Association award.
About HealthScout.com
HealthScout.com, which was acquired by MDchoice, Inc. in May, 2001,
is a leading provider of innovative products and services for healthcare
providers, consumers, and manufacturers. HealthScout.com hosts health
sections for dozens of top tier affiliates, including Yahoo!, Earthlink,
ATT Worldnet, iWon, USAToday.com, InfoSpace and NBCi. Through this network,
HealthScout's partners drive health-oriented consumers with a wide range
of interests to the HealthScout site, promoting its health and pharmaceutical
content.
· Network sites have access to HealthScout's syndicated personalized
daily health news
· on over 800 topics, health information and interactive health
management tools.
· Winner of eHealthcareWorld's Silver Award for Best Health Portal,
HealthScout.com features personalized health management tools, including
health alerts, newsletters, Latest Recalls, Mini-Checkups, and family
health pages. Reaching over one million unique users monthly, the HealthScout
Network is owned and operated by MDchoice.com, Inc.
About MDchoice,
Inc. and MDchoice.com
MDchoice, Inc. is a privately held company founded in 1999 by academic
physicians and backed by private venture capital. MDC's goal, through
MDchoice.com and other owned and affiliated sites, is to make access
to the Internet's vast health and medical information as efficient and
reliable as possible for healthcare professionals as well as consumers.
The company has developed unique, patent-pending technology to help
deliver specific, content-focused information to health consumers and
professionals quickly and securely. PC Data Online has ranked MDchoice.com
among the ten most visited healthcare sites in the U.S. and as the healthcare
site with the highest user loyalty rating. In addition to HealthCentral.com
and HealthScout.com, MDchoice, Inc., owns many award-winning medical
websites including NetMedicine.com, Physician's Choice, and EMBBS.com
(The Emergency Medicine and Primary Care Home Page). MDchoice.com's
editorial board is comprised of some of the most respected physicians
in the U.S. For more information about MDchoice visit www.MDchoice.com.
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