Elsevier's MEDalternatives Offers Additional Cost Saving Options for Payers and Members

TAMPA, Florida, February 6, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

New comprehensive resource for drug therapy options and costs helps health plan payers and members save on drug spend with information on alternative therapies

Elsevier's Gold Standard, a leading drug information provider, today announced the launch of the MEDalternatives™ database, a comprehensive resource for drug therapy options designed to give health plans and their members additional drug cost savings options through access to information on alternative therapies. MEDalternatives uses only evidence-based alternatives that have comparable or better efficacy and safety, compared to current prescriptions.

MEDalternatives covers a broad range of health conditions and the widest scope of medications, including a complete offering of drugs, drug classes, and product formulations. It returns alternatives within the class of the patient's current medication and across classes, including both generics and brands, and also provides therapeutically appropriate choices among subclasses of drugs.

MEDalternatives includes complete dosing options to ensure accurate comparisons in daily/weekly regimens and monthly/yearly costs, including those for in-store purchase versus mail-order delivery.

"MEDalternatives delivers a unique payer solution that identifies safe and cost- effective medication alternatives for achieving therapy compliance and prescription cost savings," said Marianne Messer, President, Elsevier's Gold Standard. "This will help our payer and PBM clients reduce prescription drug costs, particularly those who have already maximized their brand-to-generic switching, and improve medication adherence."

MEDalternatives helps:

• Simplify drug regimens and drive down costs for payers and patients
• Improve compliance for healthier and less expensive outcomes
• Payers control prescription costs by offering therapeutic alternatives on brand-to-brand drugs, as well as brand-to-generic drugs
• Payers educate providers and members on where savings can be attained on drugs
• PBMs (Pharmacy Benefit Managers) enforce formulary compliance
• Help providers identify alternative therapies to reduce costs
• Guide consumers toward more affordable, safer and more effective medication options
• Involve consumers in these choices, knowing that cost and convenience play a central role in adherence to treatment
• Prepare consumers to discuss options with their healthcare providers
• Boost patients' satisfaction with their drug benefits

MEDalternatives is derived from the most technologically sophisticated drug database available today and will easily integrate within and across diverse healthcare systems.

For more information about Elsevier's Gold Standard and MEDalternatives, visit http://www.goldstandard.com/medalternatives.

Elsevier's Gold Standard

Based in Tampa, FL, Elsevier's Gold Standard uses innovative technologies to provide a complete suite of drug information and decision support solutions. With a tenacious commitment to product quality, Elsevier's Gold Standard solutions empower healthcare organizations, professionals and consumers to meet the most pressing healthcare challenges, improve patient safety and ensure optimal outcomes. To learn more about Elsevier's Gold Standard, visit http://www.goldstandard.com.

About Elsevier

Elsevier is a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. The company works in partnership with the global science and health communities to publish more than 2,000 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and close to 20,000 book titles, including major reference works from Mosby and Saunders. Elsevier's online solutions include ScienceDirect, Scopus, Reaxys, ClinicalKey and Mosby's Nursing Suite, which enhance the productivity of science and health professionals, and the SciVal suite and MEDai's Pinpoint Review, which help research and health care institutions deliver better outcomes more cost-effectively.

A global business headquartered in Amsterdam, Elsevier employs 7,000 people worldwide. The company is part of Reed Elsevier Group PLC, a world-leading provider of professional information solutions in the Science, Medical, Legal and Risk and Business sectors, which is jointly owned by Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV. The ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).

Media contact
Christopher Capot
Director, Corporate Relations
Elsevier
+1-212-633-3164
c.capot@elsevier.com