Electronic Highlights Bulletin Medical Meeting News Service for Healthcare Professionals Introduction Description of the Service Benefits of Sponsorship Standards for Supported Educational Content Introduction VirSci Corporation pioneered the use of the Electronic Highlights Bulletin (EHLB) in 1995, designing this service to provide the rapid dissemination of key news and clinical trial data from prestigious medical meetings. VirSci's EHLBs have summarized clinical trial data presented at annual meetings of the American Society of Hypertension, the American College of Gastroenterology, Digestive Disease Week, the American Diabetes Association, the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology, and the Association for Pharmacoeconomics & Outcomes Research in addition to sponsored satellite meetings. EHLBs are single-sponsored publications, produced under educational grants from our pharmaceutical sponsors. For more information, see Standards for Supported Educational Content below. Return to top... Description of the Service Editorial Development: VirSci's medical writers attend the meeting and work under the supervision of a VirSci editor and an ad hoc Advisory Board, which is often composed of members of the medical association hosting the meeting. The Advisory Board, or a Guest Editor chosen daily from the Board, selects the presentations to be covered and may "peer review" the highlights before they are distributed. Typically one to three editors attend the meeting. Our writers have press access to the Press Room, if available. This gives us advanced access to daily press releases about important presentations and access to other information generally restricted to accredited news organizations including interviews with key researchers. Each day of the conference, our editorial team obtains information from the following sources: Press Room news items (including interview with selected presenters) Key Plenary Sessions Poster Presentations Individual scientific presentations Interviews with experts and researchers at the meeting Internet Services: Highlight summaries may be distributed via e-mail daily to a list of physician subscribers who have opted in to this service. The e-mail summaries link to the full highlights available on the sponsor's Web site or on micro-sites within partner physician Web sites. Web-based or media-rich e-mail versions of EHLBs can include illustrations, tables, photos, Real Audio,TM etc. Optional PDF or Flash versions can also be included so that physicians can print personalized, page-formatted, graphically-rich newsletter versions of highlights for distribution to their colleagues. Building an Online Community and Reaching Your Audience: In order to help bring a targeted audience to EHLBs, VirSci offers the following services: VirSci can create an opt-in e-mail channel targeted to a specific audience of physician specialists interested in subscribing to this service. These channels can be promoted on the host web site and can be co-marketed by the sponsor at its display booth at the medical meeting or on its physician web site. VirSci can assist in the online promotional effort by placing banner ads on third party sites, registering EHLBs with top search engines and purchasing keywords for enhanced search engine visibility. Return to top... Benefits of Sponsorship Electronic Highlight Bulletins are sponsored publications. Typically, sponsoring pharmaceutical companies have important data being presented at a major medical meeting or are about to launch a product in a new category. Sponsorship is most often made through an educational grant to VirSci Corporation or through the medical society. Benefits of sponsorship include: Sponsor provides a valuable educational service for their physician clients. EHLBs may or may not have CME attached. If CME accreditation is desired, VirSci Corporation will seek to work with an ACCME accredited provider. Sponsor's name is associated with the therapeutic category. EHLBs do NOT mention drugs by brand name and should not be considered promotional vehicles. Nevertheless, EHLBs can help sponsors gain name recognition prior to the launch of a product. VirSci often negotiates a relationship with the medical society that allows the use of the society's name on the EHLB or permits the hosting of EHLBs on the society's Web site. This helps support the society's educational mission and enhances the relationship between the society and the sponsor. Return to top... Standards for Supported Educational Content There are strict guidelines that we follow when developing sponsored content -- especially content sponsored by pharmaceutical companies. Here are some standards we and our pharmaceutical sponsors abide by: Content is developed for scientific or educational purposes and not for promotion of any product; therefore, any discussion of products is objective, balanced, and scientifically rigorous (e.g., originally reported in the major peer-reviewed literature). VirSci Corporation and its editors have full control of the content, audience, and selection of contributing authors and editors. A qualified medical advisor reviews content for scientific rigor, balance, and objectivity. We follow FDA guidelines regarding the dissemination of non-promotional, scientific/educational information by third-party publishers, i.e., that the content reflects independence, scientific rigor, balance, and objectivity. There are no advertisements or other forms of promotion for products within the sponsored publication. We generally use generic names for products and avoid excessive use of trade names for any drug products mentioned. Contact Us for More Information For more information about our Electronic Highlights Bulletin Service, please contact: John Mack P: 215-504-4164 F: 215-504-5739 johnmack@virsci.com Return to top...

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