TCM database news from Intramedicine

[Guest guest]

Hello fellow listers... I have been lurking on this list for a few

days. I am a full-time student at Colorado School of Traditional

.

 

When I got the message about Intramedicine's announcement yesterday, I

read it and didn't really understand what they were going to be

offering. Was it going to be a subscription service like WestLaw for

attorneys or MedLine for MD's or what? So I called them. I was really

disappointed in their response. I got a woman named Elaine who from

their website I assume to be the sales manager and she would not or

could not answer any of my questions. Either way is disappointing.

 

What I believe I got out of the conversation is that it will be an

on-line service that is mostly directed at the pharmaceutical industry

and would be too expensive for a practitioner or clinic to afford. They

may make a deal with some " dot com's " to have the information in their

database available via other's subscription services. They will not

give out pricing information, or really any other information either

because they specifically negotiate " Non Disclosure Agreements " with

each and every client.

 

The information in the paragraph above I got only after saying that I

was disappointed in the level of non-information I was getting from them

after such a glorious and exciting press release, especially since I was

a future TCM clinic owner and a current TCM student who was just about

to go to class and tell my fellow 30+ classmates all about what I had

learned--or NOT learned.

 

They took my name and number and promised to call me back, but on first

blush, I'd say it doesn't seem to me as though they want our business.

Huh?

 

Christina

TCM student in Denver

 

> WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif., Aug 29 /PRNewswire/ -- For the first time

> ever, doctors, pharmacists and health care providers will have online

> access to the world's largest database of Traditional

> (TCM). Intramedicine, the global leader in integrative medical

> information, acquired the Traditional data including

> 600 TCM herbal monographs from several of the major TCM institutions in

> China.

>

> ``This acquisition is the merging of thousands of years of Eastern

> medicine with Western medical expertise, '' said Ann Wang, O.M.D., an

> Adjunct Professor at the China Academy of Traditional

> who is leading this project for Intramedicine. ``It will allow health

> care providers and researchers to offer people the best medical care in

> the world, merging the finest aspects of Traditional Chinese medical

> diagnostic and treatment techniques with conventional medicine.'' Dr.

> Wang also served as a Chief Medical Administrator for the Bureau of

> Traditional , a division of China's Department of

> Public Health, and is a member of Intramedicine's

> Medical Advisory Board.

[snip]

[Guest guest]

Christina,

 

Well, good for you for being assertive anyway.

 

Julie

[Guest guest]

juliej8 wrote:

> Christina,

>

> Well, good for you for being assertive anyway.

>

> Julie

 

Thanks Julie,

 

I called them on Thursday morning... and guess what? I haven't heard

from them yet by late Friday night. Ok, ok, so it's a national holiday

weekend here in the US, but if I were THEM and had someone that left the

message that *I* left, I'd'a got someone to call me back before now.

 

But, hey, who knows, I've been in sales (my day job now that I'm a

student) in one form or another for only 20 years....

 

They obviously think they got a captive market and they don't HAVE to be

nice to ANYONE that isn't in the pharmaceutical industry.

 

This is such a sad commentary on the state of our TCM community vis a

vis the established Western medical/pharmaceutical industry.

 

Christina

[Guest guest]

, Christina <

healthresources@u...>

wrote:

 

> What I believe I got out of the conversation is that it will be an

> on-line service that is mostly directed at the pharmaceutical

industry

 

what a scam. who else would pay big bucks for a database of public

domain information besides mainstream coporate profiteers who are too

stupid to know any better? they sound like a bunch of conniving a-

holes and I bet it freaked them out that you called. Their database

is

probably worth squat and that's the real reason they don't want

people

who know the material to get a looksee themselves and expose the

whole

shebang. Too late. Unless they send us a copy, we'll assume the

worst. Till then, they get the benefit of my doubt. Send me their

email address and I'll see if can use our combined leverage as CHA

members to get them to share. And I'll be sure to pass their

response

on to my friends at Merck.