site on the Internet, announced the latest in a string of strategic alliances -- an agreement with US Pharmacopeial Convention Inc. (USP), the leading US drug information authority.

Mediconsult.com's web site, referred to as a "virtual medical clinic,'' includes health care information on topics like AIDS, arthritis, diabetes, allergies and various cancers. Five new medical topics, among them stress/anxiety, depression and impotency, were added yesterday bringing the total to 15. It is anticipated that by year's end the site will have 25 topics.

The licensing agreement with USP allows visitors to the clinic, at (http:/www.mediconsult.com), access to information on over 7,000 brand name and generic drugs. Each drug has up to 30 categories of information detailing precautions, dosage, side effects, availability by country and conflicts with other medicines.

Last week, Mediconsult.com said Penguin Books Ltd. and New Harbinger Publishers will publish chapters from medical books in the clinic.

Also last week, the company reached an agreement with IBM to distribute Global Network Internet Passport software which includes Netscape browser and Eudora Lite E-mail to be distributed free to clinic visitors.

Mediconsult has also forged relationships with several health organisations like US TOO!, the world's largest organisation focussing on prostate cancer.

US TOO! has 120,000 members.

Currently, 10,000 people visit Mediconsult.com's web site weekly, company CEO Robert Jennings said. "We're in the `infinite' growth stage.'' Mr. Jennings, a Canadian, and Bermudian Alastair Macdonald make up the Bermuda office. Mr. Macdonald, Mediconsult.com's vice president, finance, was recently with the Bank of Bermuda.

Mediconsult.com's medical director Michel Bazinet, a Montreal-based doctor, came up with the original idea. Dr. Bazinet, a former professor at McGill University, is a leading prostate cancer surgeon in Canada. He chose the Internet as a means to provide answers to patient questions.

To generate revenue, the company plans to get sponsorships from pharmaceutical and medical supply companies. Other revenue will be generated through non-Internet based newsletters, Mr. Jennings said.

And through this site, people will be able buy hard to find, or embarrassing to buy, medical products, Mr. Jennings said.

"Our site is built to meet the needs of patients dealing with medium-term and long-term medical conditions. We combine the latest Internet technology with information and support services to provide the knowledge people need to participate effectively in their treatment decisions,'' Mediconsult.com president Ian Sutcliffe, in a Bloomberg Business News story, said.

More physicians want patients to take more responsibility for their health care and with the web site information, patients can discuss options with their doctors and more effectively manage health care problems, Mediconsult.com said.

"The trend is definitely toward the patient being more empowered and you become empowered through knowledge. The vast majority of physicians like dealing with patients who are empowered,'' Mr. Jennings said.

But the site is not meant to replace a doctor, he said.

He also said that, until recently, the company has kept a low profile. The media relations firms Mediconsult.com has approached are "very excited about telling our story.'' Mediconsult.com is the Bermuda-headquartered operating company for US parent company Mediconsult.com Inc. which trades over the counter on the NASDAQ.

Mediconsult.com was set up last year with $750,000 in start-up capital from private investors. The company has 14.7 million shares with 3.7 million traded publicly.

Mediconsult.com has 26 staff.

USP has represented the standard quality in drug information for over 170 years. It is a non-governmental, not-for-profit, unbiased scientific organisation composed of representatives from accredited colleges and natural and state organisations of medicine and pharmacy.