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Israeli Company Launches New Version of Health Search Platform

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An early version of Google. Today, Google has emerged as a leading physician, directing searchers to health forums and websites. To clarify and organize such information, Treato has stepped in.An Israeli company has launched a new version of its search platform, allowing health-conscious individuals to evaluate any symptoms of illness they may be experiencing by consulting with laypeople who have experienced, and been treated, for similar issues.

According to a report published by Haaretz on Thursday, First Life Research, an Israeli-based technology company, has released a new version of Treato, a search site implemented in September 2011 and growing increasingly popular by the day.

In a new technological age, where almost everything is posted on the Web, those nervous about symptoms they may be feeling have frequently conducted Google searches to learn more about what they may have. As many of us know, the results of such searches are often disquieting, as laypeople can voice a number of absurd notions often ungrounded in any medical reality. To combat with this problem, and make the advice of the general population more objective and authentic, Treato was started. The company analyzes information posted by patients on a slew of health forums, and employs a proprietary algorithm to present details in a more consistent, organized manner. With the ability to post their own ideas after visiting Treato, patients continue to expand the company’s database.

“The crowd decides what to write about,” said Gideon Mantel, co-founder of First Life Research, according to Haaretz. “We simply organize it and lay it out for our users.”

The most challenging task for Treato’s leading designers was in deconstructing the cryptic medical advice sometimes given by patients in health forums. Because there are so many ways to express symptoms, side effects, and other critical medical details, Treato has devised an elaborate method to classify patient reactions and recommendations.

When a term is found in a certain post that relates to a medical phenomenon, 500 posts containing the phrase or terms are sent to a team of medical students who separate the wheat from the chaff. Symptoms are deciphered, side effects cataloged, and patient satisfaction levels tabulated; an algorithm is then employed to automatically register such medical information when the term is used in the future.

For the simple reason that there are so many terms on the market, Treato took longer to construct than expected.

“You would not believe how many ways there are to say muscle pain,” Mantel explains. “Understanding an everyday discussion about a medical subject is much more difficult than say, discussions about the stock market. That’s why it took us four years to develop the solution.”

Treato currently caters to the American market, but its representatives hold hopes for expansion to Israel and some other countries. The way the search platform works is simple: if a person types in a symptom, medical treatments along with associated symptoms—and their implications—will turn up. If one inquires about a medical treatment, side effects and patient satisfaction ratings, among other helpful pieces of information, will be shown.

Because it effectively gauges public sentiment about medical treatments, among other metrics, Treato has shown signs of market potential among pharmaceutical investors. The company hopes to break even, and potentially earn a profit, by 2013.

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