The following press release provides insight on industry trends and behaviors impacting all players involved in clinical research as analyzed and reported by CenterWatch.

Premier, Inc. and CenterWatch Launch TrialLink -- a New Clinical Trials Information Network

San Diego, CA and Boston, MA - July 25, 2002 - Premier, Inc., one of the largest national networks of hospitals and health care systems and a top provider of numerous health services, today announces the launch of TrialLink in collaboration with CenterWatch, a leading publisher of clinical trials information. The new TrialLink service will be offered via Premier's web site and will utilize CenterWatch's award-winning content. TrialLink will be accessible to medical and research professionals in more than 1,600 hospital facilities and several hundred health care sites throughout the United States. The service will be fully operational within the next four weeks.

Premier will offer TrialLink on an exclusive basis to its members. This new service will offer a host of benefits including listings of active clinical trials being conducted within the Premier network and at other research centers around the country, newly approved drugs, profiles of nearly 2,000 drugs in the development pipeline along with the results their performance in clinical studies. This information will be provided in searchable, online databases. Detailed profiles of Premier member research centers and their personnel will also be available through the CenterWatch web site at www.centerwatch.com.

"One of Premier's recent initiatives has been to help our members connect with new opportunities to benefit from quality clinical research. That comes from offering them the most up to date information regarding clinical research opportunities. It's consistent with the core purpose of Premier-To improve the health of communities," said Tony Gulczynski, vice president of Pharmacy for Premier." This partnership with CenterWatch can become a tremendous vehicle to assist members by staying informed of current clinical research opportunities."

Added Dan McDonald, Director of Internet Services for CenterWatch, "We are delighted to be collaborating with Premier on its new web-based clinical trial information network for member hospitals and health centers. TrialLink will play a major role in assisting Premier members in accessing vital information about investigational therapies, in identifying clinical grant opportunities and in recruiting study volunteers."

The TrialLink network will enable Premier's members and their research facilities to track clinical trial activity and to access the latest information on drug development breakthroughs. Premier facilities that do not conduct research will also be able to use the information to identify where trials are being conducted and to refer their patients when appropriate. The primary objective of TrialLink is to keep all Premier members and the communities they serve abreast of the latest advances in healthcare. Given the size of Premier's membership network, TrialLink is the largest and most extensive clinical trial information network of its kind in operation today.

About Premier
Premier, Inc. is the parent company of a leading strategic alliance in U.S. healthcare. Premier is entirely owned by more than 200 of the nation's leading hospital and healthcare systems. These systems operate or are affiliated with more than 1,600 hospital facilities in 50 states and hundreds of other care sites. The Premier family of companies provides an array of resources supporting health services delivery. Among these resources are comprehensive supply chain management services, including group purchasing for more than $14 billion annually in supplies and equipment, with e-commerce enabled by medibuy.com. Other resources offered by Premier are insurance programs, performance improvement services of many kinds including healthcare informatics, clinical technology services, and physician practice management services. Premier is headquartered in San Diego, Calif., with other major facilities in Chicago, Ill., and Charlotte, N.C. Advocacy and policy offices are located in Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.premierinc.com.

About CenterWatch
CenterWatch is a Boston-based information services company that focuses on the clinical trials industry. CenterWatch offers a variety of publications and services for clinical research and health professionals, patients and health consumers. In 2002, an estimated eight million patients and their advocates will access more than 42,000 clinical trial listings on the CenterWatch web site. CenterWatch is a part of The Thomson Corporation (NYSE: TOC) and a subsidiary of the Medical Economics Company, publisher's of the Physician's Desk Reference®. For more information about CenterWatch and its publications and services, visit www.centerwatch.com.

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