TAMPA, Fla., February 22, 2007 -- With such organizations as the Institute of Medicine (IOM), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and Food & Drug Administration (FDA) recommending use of clinical decision support tools to help reduce the estimated 1.5 million preventable adverse drug events that occur in the U.S. each year, Gold Standard Inc. announces that two independent research studies found its Clinical Pharmacology electronic drug information and medication management reference to be the best available in terms of completeness and dependability.

“As stated in the IOM report, Preventing Medication Errors, while it is impossible for providers to keep up with the relevant information on all the medications they might prescribe, the availability of point-of-care drug reference and decision support tools makes it unnecessary for them to do so,” said Russ Thomas, CEO, Gold Standard, a leading developer of drug information databases, software and clinical information solutions. “At Gold Standard, we believe it is the quality of content and accuracy of results that drive the real benefit – and where Clinical Pharmacology outshines the competition.”

Clinical Pharmacology’s drug information content is developed through an independent, peer-reviewed process by a team of editors, all of whom are current or former clinical pharmacists with extensive drug information experience. It is kept current through a continuous review of information compiled from multiple resources, including official U.S. manufacturer product labeling, FDA Medication Safety Alerts, primary medical and pharmaceutical journals, tertiary resources such as medical and pharmacology texts, specialty texts, and journal abstracting services.

“The integrity of our resources is critical to the quality of Clinical Pharmacology’s content. As such, our editorial team has established a hierarchy of data credibility that gives preference to publications that embrace the peer-review methodology,” said MaryAnne Hochadel, PharmD, BCPS, Gold Standard’s Clinical Editor-in-Chief. “Our process includes integrating drug and medical data from multiple, credible resources, distilling it down to concise, actionable information for the point-of-care, and continuously updating our content in real-time. This ensures healthcare professionals always have the most current, accurate answers for informed decision making, and is why two independent research studies found Clinical Pharmacology to be superior to its competition.”

In “Comparison of Tertiary Drug Information Databases,” a study by Butler University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Clinical Pharmacology scored highest among the tertiary online drug information databases for clinical dependability and completeness based on 100 drug information questions. The questions, which covered a wide range of issues including availability, compatibility, identification, storage and stability, herbal products and dietary supplements, and newly approved and investigational drugs, were based on inquiries received by the Butler University Drug Information Center.

In the second study, “Evaluation of the Functionality of Subscription and Free Online Drug Information Databases” by Nova Southeastern University College of Pharmacy, Clinical Pharmacology earned the highest score for scope and also outranked the competition by achieving the highest overall composite score which integrated scope, completeness and ease of use based on 15 categories of questions. The categories, which included drug dosing, drug interactions, mechanisms of action, side effects and over-the-counter medications, were identified as important to healthcare professionals based on the published literature and the Nova Southeastern University Drug Information Centers’ records of queries by primary care providers.

“Having independent research studies from two prestigious colleges of pharmacy find Clinical Pharmacology to be the most dependable and complete drug information database on the market is perhaps the most significant and meaningful measure of the quality of our product,” said Marianne Messer, Gold Standard’s executive vice president of sales and corporate development.

In fact, the quality of content found throughout Gold Standard’s suite of drug information and medication management products was a key factor in the 2006 acquisition of the Tampa-based company by Elsevier, a world-leading healthcare and scientific publisher.

Said Thomas: “Gold Standard’s high caliber drug content coupled with Elsevier’s leading evidence-based decision support content enables us to provide cutting edge information to support the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the healthcare community and improve health outcomes for the patients it serves.”

About Gold Standard

Based in Tampa, Gold Standard is a leading developer of drug information databases, software and clinical information solutions. The Company’s products are developed by a staff of highly trained professionals with extensive experience in pharmacy practice, electronic publishing and software development. Customers include more than 1,000 hospitals, the nation’s largest retail pharmacy chains and consultant pharmacy organizations, state and federal agencies, the country’s top pharmacy and medical schools, leading health information websites, and hundreds of thousands of healthcare professionals and consumers worldwide. Gold Standard’s parent company, Elsevier (www.elsevier.com), is a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services with more than 7,000 employees in over 70 offices across 24 countries. To learn more about Gold Standard, visit www.goldstandard.com or call (800) 375-0943.

Contacts 
For Gold Standard, Tampa
NPC Creative Services
Liz Roop, 813-960-5092
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