Pharmaceutical Companies Vie for Control of Doctor/Patient Communication

In a report released Thursday by Healthbanks, Burlington, Mass., authors Michael S. Brown of MSB Associates and Jack Barrette detail pharmaceutical companies' race to secure the online communication channel between physicians and patients. In the last 12 months alone, pharmaceutical companies such as Schering-Plough, Pfizer and Aventis have poured millions of dollars into new programs to enhance the education, communication and business offerings of physicians in hopes of locking their