Wolters Kluwer Health Unveils Integrated MedFacts Module for Medi-Span; Significant Enhancement Brings FDA-approved and 'Action Plan'-compliant Medication Information to Consumers and Their Caregivers

Business Wire, August 29, 2005

PHILADELPHIA -- Wolters Kluwer Health (WKHealth), the leading drug and health information provider, today unveiled its new Integrated MedFacts Module for the Medi-Span product line, which will provide pharmacists and other healthcare professionals with the tools they need to help consumers understand their medications.

The Integrated MedFacts Module (IMM) provides two types of monographs: MedFacts Monographs and Medication Guides. MedFacts Monographs are created to be fully compliant with the "Action Plan for the Provision of Useful Prescription Medicine Information" approved by the federal department of Health and Human Services. In addition, IMM provides FDA-approved Medication Guides, enabling just-in-time or on-demand printing of patient information that is required for distribution in dispensing settings.

"The Integrated MedFacts Module puts Medi-Span squarely at the forefront of this industry's efforts to comply with federal regulations that focus on providing useful medicine information to consumers," said Cathy Reilly, vice president and publisher, WKHealth. "As a patient education tool, IMM meets the needs of healthcare professionals in a variety of settings, everywhere from community and mail-order pharmacies to hospitals, home healthcare, and managed care organizations."

WKHealth believes that high-quality written medicine information will enhance the level of care that healthcare professionals provide patients. The U.S. Congress requires by law that, by 2006, at least 95 percent of people who receive new prescriptions should receive "useful" written medicine information. The Food and Drug Administration plans to survey pharmacies nationwide in 2007 to determine if this goal is being met. With its new Integrated MedFacts Module, WKHealth offers its customers a means to stay ahead of the latest standards regarding patient medication information while also integrating its product lines and processes in order to develop stronger and more flexible databases.

Medi-Span's new Integrated MedFacts Module provides the medication information that patients need, with comprehensive coverage of prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) pharmaceutical products, including herbal and alternative medicines. IMM includes more than 3,000 dosage form, strength, route, and product-specific monographs, available in English and Spanish, written specifically for patients.

About Wolters Kluwer Health

Wolters Kluwer Health (Philadelphia, PA) is a leading provider of information for professionals and students in medicine, nursing, allied health, pharmacy and the pharmaceutical industry. Major brands include traditional publishers of medical and drug reference tools and textbooks, such as Lippincott Williams & Wilkins and Facts & Comparisons; electronic information providers, such as Ovid Technologies, Medi-Span and SKOLAR; and pharmaceutical information provider Adis International.

Wolters Kluwer is a leading multinational publisher and information services company. The company's core markets are spread across the health, corporate services, finance, tax, accounting, law, regulatory and education sectors. Wolters Kluwer has annual revenues (2004) of EUR 3.3 billion, employs approximately 18,400 people worldwide and maintains operations across Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. Wolters Kluwer is headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Its depositary receipts of shares are quoted on the Euronext Amsterdam (WKL) and are included in the AEX and Euronext 100 indices.