Verispan's Vector One Reports: Crestor Market Share Increases Last Week; Patient Data Reveals What Traditional Prescription Data Masks.

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

YARDLEY, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 15, 2004

Crestor Ranks Sixth in the Market According to Traditional Prescription Metrics but Third in Terms of True Patient Measures

For the week ending Jan. 9, Verispan's Vector One(TM) shows that Crestor's share of traditional new prescriptions in the statin market increased by half a percentage point over the previous week to 4.5%. Crestor's share of total prescriptions in this market was 2.5%, making it the sixth-most prescribed statin medication behind Lipitor, Zocor, Pravachol, Lovastatin and Lescol XL.

However, Vector One's True Patient Measures(TM) reveal a more complete picture that traditional prescription data masks. Last week, Crestor achieved a 13.8% share of true new-to-brand patients (patients who took statin therapy for the first time or who switched from existing statin therapy to Crestor). It was the third-most prescribed statin to new-to-brand patients behind Lipitor (44.4%) and Zocor (19.8%).

Patient-centric data provides a clear leading indicator for the direction of future prescription share - and Verispan alone delivers that data in time for clients to act and make a difference.

For example, Vector One reveals that in the statin market, over 20% of all switches are driven by just 5% of prescribers, and over half of all switches are driven by only 20% of prescribers. By specifying projected prescriber-level prescription and patient activity and delivering within the week, Verispan provides its clients with a clear first-mover advantage.

About Vector One(TM)

Verispan's Vector One(TM) delivers the True Measure of Healthcare, projecting both traditional prescription metrics and True Patient Measures(TM) at every level, from prescriber to nation. These precise measures are delivered in record time for sales representatives and managers, brand managers and market research departments to act and make a difference. Reports are available each week for data through the previous Friday, and monthly reports are available 10 to 14 days post-period, a clear improvement over competitors' delivery timelines.

Vector One's True Patient Measures utilize de-identified patient records to track patients across time, across pharmacies, across payers and across providers, and to uniquely pinpoint projected new patient starts, product switches, continuing patients, indication-specific utilization, co-morbid conditions, concomitant use, titration, persistency and a host of other powerful metrics at the individual prescriber level.

Since it includes data from 99% of the nation's pharmacies, the Vector One projection methodology accounts for activity that is invisible to competing services, which only cover 60%-70% of stores. Vector One projects third-party, Medicaid and cash activity with unparalleled precision, resulting in greater accuracy at the prescriber level.

For more information about the Vector One suite of data solutions or Verispan's longitudinal patient-centric database, please contact Jody Fisher at [phone].

Verispan: The True Measure of Healthcare

Verispan, a healthcare informatics joint venture of Quintiles Transnational Corp. and McKesson Corp., provides a broad array of information products and services to the healthcare industry, including sales targeting and compensation products; market research audits; healthcare profiles; comprehensive managed care offerings; primary market research; opinion leader mapping; data integration, warehousing and mining; data analysis and consulting; direct mail; list services; disease management studies; clinical trial investigator targeting and protocol recruitment evaluation; healthcare outcomes; and cost/benefit analyses, among many others. Verispan is also the nation's leading provider of patient-centric longitudinal data, with dozens of products used by clients spanning the industry.

Headquartered in Yardley, Pa., Verispan is comprised of over 500 dedicated healthcare information professionals. The company's Web site is www.verispan.com.