Princeton, NJ., September 18, 2003 - According to Consumer Health Sciences (CHS), the leading provider of patient healthcare information and publisher of the annual National Health and Wellness Survey, one in every three patients-in Europe as well as the USA-requests a specific drug from his/her physician. "The fact that requests for brand name drugs were made at the same rate in all four countries surprised us," admitted Jane A. Donohue, Ph.D., chief executive officer of CHS, "given that manufacturers are banned from advertising prescription medications directly to consumers in the European Union. It would seem that consumer advertising is just one of many ways-including family, friends, and the Internet-that people learn of drugs and are motivated to request them by name," offered Donohue.

This revelation is but one insight drawn from The National Health and Wellness Survey (NHWS), a self-administered survey of 53,000 adult patients in the USA, the UK, France and Germany. The survey gathers in-depth information on the respondents' attitudes, opinions, behaviors, demographics, and quality of life-particularly with regard to their healthcare habits, drug consumption, and satisfaction. Participants are pre-stratified to be representative of each country's population, and the data are projected to national estimates. The resulting database encompasses thousands of variables for diagnosed and undiagnosed consumers in 50 therapeutic areas.

"The NHWS offers subscribers a statistically sound look inside the heads and medicine cabinets of today's consumers/patients," explained Donohue. "Respondents tell us themselves how they manage their health, where they get their healthcare information, what conditions they suffer from, how they treat those conditions, and how satisfied they are with the results," she continued. "With such extensive insight into the views and needs of their customers, pharmaceutical manufacturers are better able to judge how, when, and where to influence consumers' healthcare decisions and to educate physicians on patient needs."

The 2003 survey, which was fielded in the Spring, captured responses from 36,452 adults in the United States, 5,000 in France, 7,000 in Germany, and 5,100 in the United Kingdom, is now available for customized analyses. Although the results are sold separately for each country by diagnosis, the database as a whole reveals similarities and differences between country populations.

"We've been conducting the NHWS since 1998 in the U.S. and since 2000 in the three European markets," said Donohue, "so, at the macro-level, it's a barometer of changing health attitudes and behaviors within these four major world markets. At the micro-level, it is an exhaustive look at the make up, psyche, and practices of the people that suffer from 50 of the most common medical conditions."

About Consumer Health Services
Consumer Health Services (CHS) collects and analyzes the attitudes, opinion, behaviors, quality of life measures, and demographics of patients internationally-with an emphasis on their healthcare habits and drug consumption and satisfaction. Founded in 1996, CHS is the leading provider of such information and helps pharmaceutical manufacturers understand and incorporate patient attitudes and behaviors into their strategic thinking and marketing planning. The Company's services include: customized research reports drawn from its warehouse of information, primary research, and research-based consulting such as performing advanced analytics and publishing posters, manuscripts, and educational material. CHS is owned by the Grey Healthcare Group and can be visited at www.CHSInternational.com.