Latest prescription: drug info for a fee

By KRIS HUNDLEY

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 19, 2001

Just how much do people value having potentially lifesaving information about drugs and their side effects available on the Internet?

Gold Standard Multimedia Inc. is about to find out.

The Tampa medical publishing company put its database of drug information, Clinical Pharmacology, on its Web site in March and made it free to all comers. Usage soared to more than 300,000 registered users, but that didn't translate into substantially higher revenues.

Last week, Gold Standard e-mailed the bad news to subscribers: Starting April 1, it's pay up or get lost.

"Due to the poor reception to Internet marketing and advertisers and end-users, and to the intense concerns regarding online privacy, we have come to believe that the free model is no longer the best approach to most of our markets," the e-mail read.

Now, subscriptions are $145 a year for basic access, $395 for expanded information and access via Internet or CD-ROM.

By putting a price tag on its information, Gold Standard is returning to a model that made perfect sense before Internet mania took hold. Originally the company sold Clinical Pharmacology on CD-ROMs. Among its paying customers: more than 1,000 hospitals as well as Walgreen's and Eckerd Drug.

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