Verispan Announces: 1.1 Million Patients Filled Prescriptions for Diovan HCT in the 2nd Quarter of 2004.

YARDLEY, Pa. -- According to traditional total prescription (TRx) metrics, there were 2.3 million prescriptions for Diovan HCT in the second quarter of 2004. However, Verispan's Total Patient Tracker, which measures market sizes by viewing unique patients, shows the actual number of patients who filled prescriptions for the hypertension drug during the same time period was 1.1 million--less than half the number of prescription transactions.

In addition, Total Patient Tracker, which can break down the data by patient age, gender and physician specialty, reports that the number of male Diovan HCT patients in the second quarter of 2004 was 416,423, compared with 675,254 female patients. Approximately 40% of Diovan HCT patients were between the ages of 51 and 65.

Since Total Patient Tracker measures market sizes by viewing unique patients, taking advantage of the longitudinal aspect of patient data, drug companies can measure product performance at the patient level rather than relying on traditional prescription data. Output can even be viewed at the form and strength levels.

Projected patients, representing the total number of patients who have filled a prescription at a U.S. retail pharmacy, are estimated by removing the double counts existing in total prescription counts. For example, a single patient on dual therapy in a market is counted only once, and a single patient who takes a drug monthly is counted only once when calculating patients on therapy for a quarter or a year.

Total Patient Tracker is a unique tool that allows clients to view sizes of markets as they choose to define them. Market sizes are determined by unique patient counts projected to a national total of retail prescriptions and can be customized by users. Clients get access to all markets and can manipulate the time period under study, from one month to one year.

Recent enhancements to Total Patient Tracker include:

--New variables, such as patient age group, patient gender and physician specialty.

--New market definition report, which allows clients to determine which USC class a particular product is in or which USC classes comprise a predefined market.

--Drill-down function in all product brand reports and USC class reports, which allows clients to customize product selections when working in a large market or USC class.

For more information about Total Patient Tracker, please contact TJ Wagner at [phone] or [e-mail].

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 comprises over 500 dedicated healthcare information professionals. The company's Web site is www.verispan.com.