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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
FORM 8-K
Current Report Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
MARCH 1, 2001
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Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported)
WEBMD CORPORATION
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(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
DELAWARE 0-24975 94-3236644
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(State or other jurisdiction (Commission File Number) (I.R.S. Employer
of incorporation) Identification No.)
RIVER DRIVE CENTER 2
669 RIVER DRIVE
ELMWOOD PARK, NEW JERSEY 07407-1361
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(Address of principal executive offices, including zip code)
(201) 703-3400
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(Registrant's telephone number, including area code)
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(Former name or address, if changed since last report)
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ITEM 9. REGULATION FD DISCLOSURE
On May 26, 2000, WebMD Corporation entered into a Data Rights
Agreement with Quintiles Transnational Corp. Under this agreement, which was
entered into in connection with the sale of ENVOY Corporation by Quintiles to
WebMD, WebMD agreed to provide to Quintiles de-identified data available to
WebMD from ENVOY's transaction services and other data available to WebMD which
Quintiles can use to provide data products to third parties. De-identified data
is data that has all elements removed from it that would make that data
individually identifiable to a particular person. The agreement stipulates that
WebMD is not required to provide data to Quintiles if, among other things, it
is prohibited from doing so by applicable law.
On February 23, 2001 pursuant to the specific provisions of the Data
Rights Agreement, WebMD notified Quintiles that it was suspending the delivery
of data in its current form to Quintiles because WebMD believed that there are
state privacy laws that prohibit or limit WebMD and ENVOY from providing such
data because of the possibility that certain of the data elements being
provided to Quintiles could be used to identify a specific person. WebMD has no
information that any person has been so identified but took action to ensure
that the data provided to Quintiles conformed to applicable law. This decision
was reached after careful consideration of federal and state laws as well as
the current regulatory environment, including recently enacted federal privacy
regulations.
Without notice to WebMD and without any opportunity for WebMD to be
heard, Quintiles obtained from the Wake County, North Carolina Superior Court
on Sunday night, February 25, 2001 an order temporarily restraining WebMD from
further interruption of the data delivery to Quintiles. On March 1, 2001, WebMD
removed the Quintiles lawsuit to the Federal District Court for the Eastern
District of North Carolina and has filed a motion seeking to have the temporary
restraining order dissolved.
Quintiles disputes that there are any violations of any state privacy
laws, but to the extent there have been any such violations, Quintiles is
obligated to indemnify WebMD for any losses which it might suffer.
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SIGNATURE
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,
WebMD Corporation has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the
undersigned thereunto duly authorized.
WEBMD CORPORATION
Dated: March 1, 2001 By: /s/ Charles A. Mele
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Charles A. Mele
Executive Vice President
and General Counsel
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