More than 210,000 physicians had signed up for Medscape by mid-1999. The New York site gave them free medical news, original articles by leading physicians, and courses that counted toward their license requirements. Drug companies paid for much of it. Genentech alone supplied about 27 percent of 1998 revenue. When Medscape went public that fall, health websites were among the hottest bets of the boom.

A Medical Publisher Goes Online

Peter Frishauf, a medical publisher, founded Medscape, which was incorporated in New York in March 1996 and began operating the next month. Venture investor Alan Patricof joined as chairman that year. The bet was that professionals would trade the medical journal pile on their desks for a website. Medscape.com had more than 1.2 million registered members by June 1999, including 600,000 nurses, pharmacists and other health workers.

Merged, Then Absorbed

Medscape priced its IPO at $8 a share in September 1999 and listed on Nasdaq as MSCP. CBS agreed to buy 600,000 shares in the offering. In 2000 Medscape merged with MedicaLogic, an electronic medical records company, to form MedicaLogic/Medscape. The combination struggled as the dot-com bust hit. WebMD bought the Medscape business in 2001, and Medscape remains one of the main websites for doctors today.

Cover: Design: Facial Anatomy from Encyclopédie, A. J. Defehrt. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for an anatomy plate from the Encyclopédie (medical reference).