Article

The project was launched in the fall of 2015 with some initial research and discovery. The initial feedback was encouraging. We then assembled a long list of specifications so that a pilot project was started in the summer of 2016 with the following parameters:

•   Thirty participating doctors
•   Project duration of five weeks
•   35 information sheets in German

About 200 information sheets were handed out during the pilot project. This and the positive feedback we received from our users, gave us the impetus to go ahead with the development of this new service.

The design of the database was completed, which represents the technical and organizational framework for an efficient and reliable publication of multilingual information sheets. This framework also allows us to manage the maintenance of the data properly and approach the promotion of the tool in a systematic manner.

Based on our validated concept and with our initial technical work completed, we approached the info-pharma Foundation and the subscribers of Infomed-Verlag with a request for initial funding around the turn of the year (2016-17).

Approximately CHF 60,000 were donated, which we consider a great success and motivates us even more to bring a good product to market. A big thank you goes out to all our original all donors!

In the meantime, the project has progressed significantly:

•     Information sheets on around 230 active substances have been prepared
•     The database has been developed
  
•     Translations into six languages were undertaken

More than 1,600 information leaflets can now be downloaded, both by subscribers and by us as administrators of the data. A solid and user-friendly front-end interface is of the utmost importance to us. This is one of the key focal points of our project in the coming weeks.

Towards the end of the year we would like to start with a free testing phase which will last several months. This testing phase will be open to everyone.

We will continue to report on the progress of the project on an ongoing basis. Enter your email address in the newsletter subscription form at the footer of this page in order to be kept a breast of the latest progress!