------------------------------------------------------------------------ Glitches surface with drug-discount cards Price-comparison feature not entirely functional, users say

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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/05/04/BUGPL6F4001.DTL

.... At the center of the controversy is DestinationRx, a small California

company that won a government contract for less than $3 million to license

its drug-pricing comparison Internet software. The tool is a Web-based

device designed to guide seniors through selection of a drug discount card.

DestinationRx didn't have to go through a bidding process. It simply got a

phone call from the government.

" We were curious as to why they wanted to chat with us, " said Yocum,

vice president of DestinationRx, which has just 32 employees -- 14 of whom

work part time in the company's call center. " But what was attractive to

them (Medicare officials) is that we had already built a price-comparison

system that had a number of features they were interested in incorporating. "

....

.... The company was founded by Brainrush, a venture capital firm in Oakland.

Brainrush's founder, Kim, the former chief executive of the

now-defunct Granny Goose Foods Inc., was indicted on insider trading charges

and later acquitted. Yocum said none of the current investors are associated

with Brainrush. ...