SearchMedica, a targeted search engine for physicians (think Google for doctors), last week released the top-25 search terms used by doctors and prescribers to access medical information in three categories: cancer, general medicine, and psychiatry.

The top 5 for each section in the third quarter of 2007 are:Cancer:1. breast cancer2. lung cancer3. vertebroplasty metastases4. leukemia5. recurrent ovarian cancer

General medicine:1. cortisol2. HbA1c/glycated hemoglobin3. dopamine4. aphthous ulcers5. hypertension

Psychiatry:1. mood stabilizer2. unipolar vs. bipolar depression3. Asperger's4. hypomania5. bipolar

This is the inaugural quarter that the company has tracked searches and released them to the public.

Professional Searching for PhysiciansSearchMedica launched a year ago as a search engine for medical professionals. "When we were talking to doctors and physicians, most of them said that they used Google. However, 60 percent of those interviewed found too many irrelevant results," said Cyndy Finnie, senior product manager at SearchMedica. "SearchMedica focuses on finding only professional medical content." Google and Yahoo searches are targeted to consumers, not specialty areas.

SearchMedica raises revenue through advertising deals with pharmaceutical companies. "As we looked at the relationships we've built over the course of the last year, both with our users and with our advertisers, we wanted to find a way we could work more closely with them," Finnie said. For Q3 of 2007, SearchMedica cracked open its search history and categorized the search terms that its users were inputting to search for a topic.

To find information, the search engine scours only recommended medical sites, rather than the entire World Wide Web. Staff editors and physician advisers verify that all information is relevant medical data. Users must register on the site and identify themselves as medical professionals. Although the company does not quote actual user numbers, it claims that the number is in the thousands.

"When we started this study, we didn't know what to expect because it was the first one that we've done," Finnie said. "Looking at the general medicine chart, I was surprised by the wide range of disorder categories that were covered—everything from cardiovascular to respiratory to cancer."

What isn't listed in the lists are references or search for branded drugs; most listings are for disorders. This backs up the notion that pharma companies looking to advertise on search engines like Yahoo and SearchMedica would do well bidding on keywords for drug categories rather than only on their own drug.

Unlike Google, SearchMedica is not a 100 percent self-service keyword-purchasing site. The site offers pharma companies the opportunity to work with it to create keyword lists so an advertiser can sponsor a therapeutic area, placing advertisements in context with searches for a disease state. More than one company can sponsor a therapeutic area.

"One of the things pharma companies tell us is that in terms of keywords, it's not just the drug names that they are interested in, because that could represent a very small percentage of the overall keywords that apply to their therapeutic area," Finnie says. "We are trying to take advantage of the shift in pharma spend as more of that goes to online advertising. The list represents some opportunities for advertising on SearchMedica that perhaps the pharma companies haven't thought about yet."

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A physician-oriented search engine reveals its most-searched terms. Among the winners: breast and lung cancer, cortisol, and HbA1c/glycated hemoglobin. Nowhere to be seen: pharmaceutical products.

Doc-Driven Search Site Lists Top Search Terms

Discovery Health premiered a new feature-length program last Sunday that documents how diabetes affects people worldwide. What makes the show even more interesting is that doctors can receive one continuing medical education credit just by watching it.

 online and watch the program, and then take a short CME post-test and program evaluation. The show counts as one free American Medical Association credit, and physicians can print a CME certificate from the site after completing everything.

The program was the brainchild of pediatric endocrinologist Francine Kaufman, who traveled across the world gathering and sharing information about diabetes with physicians, patients, and thought leaders working and struggling with the disease.

"The original idea was to focus on the efforts to achieve a United Nations resolution to make November 14 world diabetes day," Lori Moore, Novo Nordisk's senior director of communication and public affairs told 

. "And they were going to trace the yearlong effort to make the resolution." But as luck would have it, the UN adopted the resolution early in December 2006, making the original topic a moot point. So Discovery Health needed a focus to tie the documentary together.

Discovery Health approached Novo Nordisk with the idea of making a film covering the global pandemic of diabetes and looking at all of those affected through compelling and personal stories. Novo Nordisk gave the filmmakers a CME grant to fund the noncommercial endeavor.

"We talked to Discovery Health about the need to travel to as many diverse cultures as possible and look at people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes, and to look at problems as well as solutions," Moore said. "We wanted to make sure it was a well-rounded story that really brought to life the enormity of the problem."

Novo Nordisk put the filmmakers in touch with the World Diabetes Foundation, which helped open doors to find unique stories in remote parts of the world, including Australia, India, and Brazil. Filming took close to ten months, and actress Glenn Close did voice-over work.

"The three partners that came together to make this film possible had a higher goal to increase awareness of diabetes and to educate and motivate," Moore said. "We just wanted to make sure that our visions were aligned with the kind of story that we ultimately wanted to see available."

The show will air through November on Discovery Health and is available online at 

A new pharma-sponsored documentary chronicles one doctor?s adventure around the world as she searches for stories about living with diabetes. The program, sponsored by Novo Nordisk, enlightens viewers and offers physicians a chance to earn one AMA-approved CME credit.

Pharmaceutical Executive-11-21-2007

Doc-Driven Search Site Lists Top Search Terms

Discovery Health Documentary Spotlights Diabetes and Offers a CME Credit