ThePharmYard is developing into a valuable service providing instant access to expert information, guidance and analysis for individuals working within, or intending to work within, the medical and pharmaceutical industries. The service is free to access by all users.

More information about our aims and objectives and how you can help us build the service is provided below in the form of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).

ThePharmYard is an initiative from NetworkPharma Ltd, a company which has been established by our Managing Director, Peter Llewellyn, to provide first-rate business information services for the medical and pharmaceutical industries, focusing on delivery via Internet and new media technologies.

A particular feature of the underlying NetworkPharma platform is the high level of personal confidentiality and privacy provided to our users. This is of paramount importance when working within a sensitive, high technology environment such as the medical and pharmaceutical industries. Users will find a number of security features in place and, for instance, an important fundamental principle is that email addresses and other personal details of our individual users are never made public nor sold to third parties.

We are keen to hear from anyone with ideas, comments and feedback which will help us develop faster and more effectively to deliver the services that our community members really want and really appreciate. So, do please contact us to let us know what you think.

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

What's it all about?

Exactly what we say! ThePharmYard provides individuals working within the medical and pharmaceutical industries, and those who would like to work within it, with access to a wide range of advice and information, education and analysis in the form of individual electronic documents which are available for purchase and immediate download in PDF format. No waiting around uncertainly for a few days for the post to arrive. In the end, in a specialist business like ours, there is only so much information you can get freely on the Internet and even that you often spend huge amounts of time looking for. The service here complements other online services by providing a valuable opportunity for you to save time and money and get on with what's important.

I'm a publisher - how do I join in and sell my publications via ThePharmYard

Do please contact us straight away! We are keen to expand the offering for our specialist audience and it really is very simple and you can start more or less straight away. So long as your titles are available in electronic format (typically PDF Format), and can be provided to us to host on our system, then we can help you reach more customers. And the terms of business are very attractive compared with traditional distribution channels.

How does your payment system work? Are my details safe?

Like many online services nowadays, the financial transactions take place entirely independently of ourselves, via the well-established services of WorldPay. Once you have chosen your purchases then our secure servers link to their systems and it is they who deal with credit card processing and so on. We simply never see any of your card details. You can be entirely confident of the process but if at any time you have any concerns at all then please please contact us directly.

Who has a financial or other interest in ThePharmYard?

ThePharmYard is 100% owned by NetworkPharma Ltd, run by the Managing Director, Peter Llewellyn.

Our survival in the end depends on professional relationships with advertisers and sponsors. But an important point is they never have direct access to individual email addresses or any personal information about our registered members.

So, who is Peter Llewellyn and why should that matter?

Peter started his career with a BSc in Microbiology and a job in Clinical Research at Bayer plc. In the following 10 years he went on to work in Sales and Product Management before joining a Medical Communications Agency. In 1993 he founded his own agency, Maxim Medical, and quickly became involved in the Internet which was just starting to come out of the shadows. Maxim Medical was probably the first Medical Communications agency in the UK to have a web site of its own (but who knows really, all that can be said with confidence is there were very, very few sites of any sort around at the time).

In around 1996 Peter started focusing more and more on what the pharmaceutical industry and their customer groups were doing on the Internet, and started publishing reports about that activity and presenting extensively at conferences and events. This eventually led to the founding of InPharm - Internet Services Ltd and the launch of the InPharm.com web site in 1998. In 2002 the business was sold to John Wiley & Sons who now maintain it within their own portfolio and Peter set off to develop other projects, such as ThePharmYard, which are all now managed under NetworkPharma Ltd.

Are you in anyway allied with any specific Publisher?

No! We are working with a number of Publishers, of course, to provide an opportunity for them to provide you with access to their products. But that is all.

What is hidden behind the scenes?

Nothing. If you have any concerns at all please contact us directly.

Who else has access to my personal details?

No-one. This is an absolutely fundamental principle upon which we work. For more information see our Terms And Conditions Of Use and if you have any cause for concern please contact us straight away.

How busy is the site and what is the profile of the users?

In time we will make more information available on the web site but for now please just contact us to ask and we will happily send you anonymous and pooled data to demonstrate our usage patterns.

A huge disservice has been done by ill-informed media commentary and web site owners misleading everyone about web site traffic figures, general talk of "hits" and lack of audit and so on. For our part we will be monitoring overall numbers of "unique users" and "page requests" via standard industry software which simply looks at pooled electronic data. Importantly once the site is established, and the expense of audit can be covered, we will also start subjecting ourselves to independent audit via ABCe. This data will always be publicly available without qualification. Meanwhile we are more than happy to discuss the meaning of the figures that are routinely banded about and what our own figures are at any point.

We will keep this page updated with useful information as is appropriate and as new points are raised with us by you. Meanwhile if we are failing to answer any questions you have about us, whatsoever, please contact us directly.