Sema Group Plc and Ing C Olivetti & Co SpA are forming a joint venture to offer on-line health care information, aiming primarily at general practitioners and starting in the UK and Italy in the first half of 1996. The service, called Remedes, will then move into Belgium and Spain and will ultimately be offered throughout the European Community. Olivetti said the venture hoped to recoup its initial $122m investment within five years. The venture will use existing telecommunications infrastructure, especially pan-European Integrated Services Digital Network. Remedes will apply for funds from the European research programme that supports projects on data networks.
