Health Products Research Reports Key Findings on Pharmaceutical Promotion to Neurologists

SOMERSET, N.J., April 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Health Products Research, Inc.(R) (HPR(R)), an inVentiv Health company (NASDAQ: VTIV) , today announced the findings of its Metropolitan Area Promotional Audit (MPA) market intelligence on pharmaceutical sales forces' promotional activities to neurologists across the United States.

According to the updated information analyzed from a broad sample of neurologists surveyed between November 2005 and January 2006 by HPR, Seizure Disorders, Anti-Migraine and Alzheimer's disease medications were the top three therapeutic categories being promoted to neurologists.

Key findings on Neurologists from the Metropolitan Area Promotional Audit include:

  -- Pfizer, GSK and Novartis were rated as the top companies who best
     support the overall needs of neurologists' practices. Key attributes in
     the decision making process included breadth of Company product lines,
     quality of drug sampling, and professional knowledgeable sales
     representatives.
  -- Neurologists in New York, Washington-Baltimore and Chicago were the
     most heavily promoted to by pharmaceutical sales forces and
     Seattle-Portland, Miami-Ft. Lauderdale and Newark/North Central New
     Jersey were the least heavily promoted areas. Specifically, Pfizer, GSK
     and Novartis promoted to neurologists the most in both the heavily
     promoted -- and least heavily promoted metropolitan areas, calling on
     neurologists at an average frequency of twice a month.
  -- In the Seizure Disorders category, Trileptal(R) (Novartis), Keppra(R)
     (UCB Pharma) and Lyrica(R) (Pfizer) were the most actively promoted
     therapies.
  -- In the Anti-Migraine category, Imitrex(R) (GSK), Relpax(R) (Pfizer) and
     Axert(R) (Ortho-McNeil) were the most actively promoted medications.
  -- In the Alzheimer's disease category, Namenda(R) (Forest Labs),
     Aricept(R) (Eisai) and Exelon(R) (Novartis) were the most actively
     promoted brands.
  -- Reported sales presentations to neurologists lasted 8.8 minutes on
     average, relative to 5.3 minutes on average for General/Family
     Practitioners.

The MPA panel of over 800 neurologists is asked to report on competitive promotional activities in order to measure and monitor the impact and effectiveness of localized field-based marketing activities. Physician feedback included: location and type of sales rep contact, nature of the product discussion, sales rep service rating, call frequency, sampling activity, competitive product comparisons and medical education program participation.

About the Metropolitan Area Promotional Audit (MPA)

The Metropolitan Area Promotional Audit (MPA) is a monthly service providing insights into pharmaceutical/health care company promotional activities and sales force structure across 22 metropolitan area geographies (MSA-GEOs). Physicians provide insights into the nature of the sales rep product discussions, the value of this information, and their intent to prescribe the product, in addition, to a host of other information collected on the sales rep call. This information enables pharmaceutical companies to fine-tune their marketing, field force resource allocation and professional medical education support initiatives to better meet the on-going information needs of physicians and health care providers. The MPA service was launched in January 2000 and has a dedicated panel of over 16,000 physicians representing 13 specialty segments.

About inVentiv Health

inVentiv Health (Ventiv Health, Inc., Nasdaq: VTIV) is the leading provider of commercialization and complementary services to the global pharmaceutical, life sciences and biotechnology industries. inVentiv delivers its customized clinical, sales, marketing and communications solutions through its three core business segments: inVentiv Clinical, inVentiv Communications and inVentiv Commercial. inVentiv Health currently works with over 175 unique pharmaceutical, biotech and life sciences clients, including all top 20 global pharmaceutical companies. For more information, visit http://www.inventivhealth.com/.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks that may cause Ventiv Health's performance to differ materially. Such risks include, without limitation: changes in trends in the pharmaceutical industry or in pharmaceutical outsourcing; our ability to compete successfully with other services in the market; our ability to maintain large client contracts or to enter into new contracts; and, our ability to operate successfully in new lines of business. Readers of this press release are referred to documents filed from time to time by Ventiv Health, Inc. with the Securities and Exchange Commission for further discussion of these and other factors.