Pfizer, IBM and Microsoft launch Amicore

Pfizer, IBM and Microsoft have launched Amicore, an independent softwareand services company aimed at reducing "the administrative workload and paperwork for physicians, allowing them to dedicate more time toward their mission of providing quality patient care." Amicore also announced the acquisition of PenChart Corp, a Connecticut, USA-based health care application developer, to form the core of the company's initial product offering and accelerate its product development strategy.

Pfizer, which joined forces with IBM and Microsoft earlier this year (Marketletter April 9), says that a recent customer study showed that PenChart software "almost entirely eliminated the cost of filing and retrieving paper medical records and reduced the cost of ordering prescription refills and of transcription services by over 80%."