NEW YORK, NY -- 12/10/07 --
iMedix,
the first community-powered health search engine, launched today after a
year in development. iMedix allows consumers to benefit from the online
research conducted by thousands of others with similar health conditions or
interests. The integrated community platform allows users to enhance that
information through real-time patient-to-patient interaction. By combining
advanced search with community features, iMedix empowers people to find and
share health information in order to make better health-related decisions.
iMedix's patent-pending 'evolutionary' search engine analyzes users'
feedback against millions of medical articles, pictures and videos in order
to provide the best answers for health related questions and concerns. The
system ranks Web pages based on those that have proven to be most useful
and relevant to other users searching for the same information.
Additionally, iMedix shows users whether pages are from sources certified
by HON (Health On the Net Foundation), URAC (Utilization Review
Accreditation Commission) and other organizations.
Using iMedix, patients can easily connect with others who suffer from
similar conditions and exchange information about symptoms, prevention and
treatment through real-time chat -- all in a single click. They can also
build their own communities around specific health interests by creating
friends lists and adding new friends.
The company will soon make its health search technology available to other
Web sites. Health portals, publications, blogs and other sites will have
the ability to embed the iMedix search widget to display instant and
relevant health information from people and Web sources.
iMedix meets a growing demand for reliable health information online. Ten
million Americans per day use the Internet to search for health-related
information, according to the Pew Research Center(1). However, the majority
are dissatisfied with their search experience: A study by
JupiterResearch(2) revealed that only 16 percent of adults who searched
online for health information were satisfied with their findings. There is
also a strong demand among patients for community support and interaction
via the Web: A separate JupiterResearch(3) study revealed that 34 percent
of US adults connected with others online, or with the online content
created by others, for health reasons.
iMedix is a privately-funded start-up, founded in January 2007 by Internet
veterans Amir
Leitersdorf and Iri
Amirav. Amir Leitersdorf, CEO of iMedix, previously co-founded Movota,
which was successfully sold to The Bertelsmann Group in 2005. He also held
the position of CTO at Tapuz
(TELAVIV: TPUZ). Iri Amirav, CMO at iMedix, established and led the
marketing division at MetaCafe,
overseeing 2,500 percent growth to 17 million uniques and 450 million page
views per month. Iri previously held positions at Time Warner and
Pelephone. iMedix is supported by an advisory board of strategic investors,
successful Internet entrepreneurs, information retrieval specialists,
artificial intelligence professors and medical experts. The company has
raised almost $2 million to date in seed funding.
"Until today, searching for health information online was a lonely
business. Now,
for the first time, it is a collaborative effort," said Amir Leitersdorf,
co-founder and CEO of iMedix. "Our technology uses advanced learning
systems to leverage the hours of online research conducted by thousands of
users for the benefit of the individual patient. Every user interaction
contributes directly to the site's ability to deliver relevant results.
This breakthrough is what makes us so excited about bringing iMedix to
market."
"We saw a tremendous opportunity to create a patient-powered service that
gave users everything they need to make better health-related decisions,"
said Iri Amirav, co-founder and CMO of iMedix. "Our goal was to allow
patients to harness the real-life experiences of others. We have done that on
iMedix by allowing patients to find each other and communicate in
real-time."
Sign-up for free by visiting iMedix at http://www.imedix.com
About iMedix, Inc.
Founded in January 2007, iMedix is a community-powered health search engine
that allows people to easily find and share health information in order to
make better health-related decisions.
The company's innovative approach is a unique combination of a medical
search engine with a collaborative community platform. Patients can
immediately chat with others that suffer from similar conditions and
benefit from reading medical Web articles that were ranked by the
community.
iMedix will utilize its technology and services to connect pharmaceuticals,
insurance companies and medical organizations with highly targeted
consumers in the rapidly growing market of online healthcare.
For more information, visit iMedix at http://www.imedix.com
(1) Pew Internet & American Life Project, August 2006
(2) US Online Health Consumer Survey, 2007: Understanding Search Behavior,
July 2007
(3) Online Health, JupiterResearch, February 2007
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Contacts:
Noah Dye
Cari Goodrich
LEWIS PR for iMedix
408/573-3662
Email Contact
