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News in brief - June 30, 2003

MyDoc.com sold

Roche Diagnostics Corp. has sold its online consultation unit, MyDoc.com Inc., to U.S. Health Services Corp. Terms were not disclosed.

U.S. Health Services is a unit of Indianapolis-based financial holding company Standard Management Corp., which markets pharmaceutical products and services to consumers.

MyDoc.com, which Roche started in 2001, allows people, for a fee, to consult with physicians online.

MyDoc.com sought to differentiate itself as more ethical and professional than competitors that had attracted the ire of state regulators and organized medicine. It attempted to achieve that by hiring only board-certified primary care physicians, and identifying them on the site, and saying it would not prescribe controlled substances, narcotics or so-called "lifestyle" drugs for baldness, impotence or weight loss.

But the company's strategy failed to win over the AMA and others in organized medicine, who said it was unprofessional for company physicians to treat and diagnose patients with whom they did not have an existing relationship. In October 2002, Illinois ordered MyDoc.com to stop serving its residents. The company is active only in Indiana, where it is based.

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