Senior execs from SmithKline Beecham, Pfizer and Merck Medco assess their progress in e-business and their partnership needs with small companies. SmithKline Beecham's newly named VP, E-commerce, Spyros Stavrakas, is getting a handle on the different ways in which SB's various divisions are currently using the Internet. Merck-Medco's VP of Physician Office Technology, Kyle Farmer discusses his company's online prescribing initiatives, which includes a pilot program that will eventually involve 11 start-ups.. The VP for information management at Pfizer Central Research, James Milson, describes the ways in which his company is using the Internet to streamline the clinical trial process, particularly with respect to FDA and submissions and patient recruitment.

A new force of organizing care has begun to emerge designed specifically to restore to physicians the power and influence they've seen drain away. They're called physician practice management (PPM) companies, and they may be the hottest trend in health care. Recently, they've been among Wall St.'s favorite investments over the last couple of years. And they're beginning to attract doctors in large numbers.

Q-Med is looking to solve two big problems of the disease management business: creating a proprietary hook and selling cost-benefit results to managed care plans which fit within their very short time horizons. The company believes and has evidence that their coronary artery disease monitor can identify patients who will have a heart attack or require some serious medical intervention within the one-to two year time frame of managed care plans.