The promise of personalized medicine: a conversation with Michael Svinte. Interview by Michael Millenson.

In early 2004, IBM combined its Healthcare unit, which focused on the technology needs of providers, with its Life Sciences unit, which catered to research scientists. Out of that union was born an "emerging business opportunity" called information-based medicine, in which IBM has already invested tens of millions in the expectation of reaping billions of dollars in revenues. Michael Svinte describes his mission as providing the information technology infrastructure that will enable technologies such as proteomics and molecular imaging to progress from the bench to the bedside, thereby resulting in predictive and personalized health care.

Evaluation of direct pharmacist intervention on conversion from parenteral to oral histamine H2-receptor antagonist therapy.

A program in which pharmacists were authorized to change parenteral histamine H2-receptor antagonist (H2RA) therapy to the oral route without first contacting the prescriber was evaluated on cost and appropriateness of use of the parenteral route. Parenteral therapy was received by 264 and 244 patients in the study and comparison groups, respectively. Length of parenteral H2RA therapy was less in the study group (4.