THEGLOBE.COM BUYS ONLINE DEPARTMENT STORE AZAZZ.COM.
Web community company IPO record-setter Theglobe.com Inc has put down 307,000 of its high-priced shares to acquire an interactive department store called Azzaz.com from factorymall.com Inc. based on Monday's closing price of $60.125, the deal is valued at $18.5m. Last October, possibly with an eye to future expansion along...

SOMA AND ADAM JOIN INTERNET PHARMACY RACE.
Two more contestants have joined the increasingly crowded race to become the Amazon.com of pharmaceuticals. Seattle-based Soma Corp has launched Soma.com to sell prescription medications, over-the- counter drugs, vitamins, health care products, beauty aids and alternative remedies. The pharmacy can verify prescriptions with patients' health care providers and claims...

Misys Gains Web Arm Through Link to Healtheon.
Misys Group Plc, the UK's biggest software company has signed an alliance between its US healthcare subsidiary Medic Computer Systems and healthcare e-commerce specialist Healtheon Corp that enables the 65,000 physicians in the US who use Misys practice management software to check patients' insurance eligibility via the web. The...

iXL Shares Well Received After $72m IPO.
Shares in iXL Enterprises Inc, the Atlanta, Georgia-based web site development and e-commerce company, jumped as much as 104% Thursday after the company's initial public offering, before closing the day up 49% at $17.875. Volume was 13.8 million shares. iXL sold six million shares at $12 in an offering...

Healtheon and WebMD Join in $7bn Merger.
As expected, Healtheon Corp announced Thursday that it had struck a deal to merge with WebMD Inc in a stock-swap valued at roughly $5.5bn when announced, but worth about $7.14bn after Healtheon shares rose 20% on the news. Healtheon's stock soared $20.375 to close at $100.625 amid optimism that...

iSOFT Aims for Independence and Expansion.
The management of iSOFT Plc, a UK healthcare systems developer spun-off from KPMG last year, has wrested full control from its erstwhile parent, increasing its stake to 60% from 25%, in a deal that values the company at $32m. iSOFT says its priority now is to raise the financial...

DrKoop.com Pays $89m for Alliance With AOL.
Health care network drkoop.com will pay America Online Inc $89m over the next four years. In exchange for its cash, drkoop.com will become the health content provider to AOL, CompuServe, AOL.com, Netscape NetCenter and Digital City. The companies expect to roll out drkoop.com content to the five AOL brands...

Principles for Ethical Marketing on the Internet.
Standards for Web-based marketing of physician practices and other on-line medical information are still evolving, but some general principles for ethical Internet promotion have emerged, according to practice management consultant Karen Zupko. One of the best formulations of an ethical approach to online health information comes from...

INTERNET HEALTH PRIVACY.
Many health Web sites are probably surprised to find that they are unwittingly transmitting user information to third parties in direct violation of their stated privacy policies, Marc Rotenberg, director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said at a health privacy briefing in Washington. Mr. Rotenberg was commenting on...

Free Web Sites Luring Many Physicians Online.
Welcome to www.wewantyou.com. More than 20 Internet companies are offering free construction and maintenance services to physicians who launch online medical "homes" on Web sites operated by the companies. What's in it for you? Better informed patients, according to Dr. David Howlett, a...