DocCheck Partners with Belgium’s PharmaPlanet

DocCheck Medical Services GmbH, the leading European physician verification service has announced an agreement with PharmaPlanet , a subsidiary of the Belgian National Pharmacists Association.

The cooperation agreement opens the Belgium market of 50,000 doctors and pharmacists up to DocCheck. PharmaPlanet will introduce and market the DocCheck password system and other DocCheck products into the Belgian market.

In September DocCheck signed a deal with three Swiss medical publishers – Documed AG, Hans Huber AG and Medical Tribune AG – to provide its physician verification service to doctors and pharmacists in Switzerland.

"After our entry into the Swiss and now into the Belgian market we are consolidating our leading market position in Europe", stated Frank Antwerpes, managing director of DocCheck Medical Services GmbH He described DocCheck’s strategy as a global system adapted to local markets.

DocCheck claims to be the largest and fastest growing B2B portal for medical experts in Europe. Since the launch in 1996, 120,000 members of the medical profession are said to have registered.

The company’s password system – used to verify the identity of clinicians – has been widely adopted by pharmaceutical firms in Europe, which are only allowed to advertise prescription drugs to clinicians.

The DocCheck system is designed so that clinicians only need a single password to log on to a wide range of clinical Websites.

DocCheck says its physician verification system, which is provided for free, is now used by 19 of the 20 leading pharmaceutical firms in Germany to control access to their websites.

DocCheck’s products also include online market research, clinical research, e-Detailing and direct marketing. In addition, the integrated DocCheck Shop offers users an e-commerce platform for online buying of over 15,000 articles