Dr. Koop on Life Support

N E W  Y O R K, July 31 -- Dr Koop.com still has a pulse — but finding life in the Internet start-up has been tough the past couple of years.

The company lost $100 million last year alone. Dr. C. Everett Koop, the former U.S. Surgeon General, still owns about 7 percent of the company. But the value of the company's stock has fallen off sharply. Once trading as high as $40 to $45 per share, the stock now hits consistent lows of about 14 to 20 cents.

So far this year, the company has laid-off 55 percent of its employees and relocated its headquarters from Austin, Texas to Santa Monica, Calif. And the health of the medical information site now rests in the hands of a new head.

"It's been a very difficult 12 months," said Richard Rosenblatt, the recently hired 32-year-old chief executive officer. "I mean we've tried to take a dot-com business and create a true business from it."

Worth the Paper They're Printed On?

But Rosenblatt says the days of companies on the Internet surviving without making money are over. "The light at the end of the tunnel is no longer burning cash, but building a true business with real revenues and real net earnings," he said.

And to build that "true business," the company is turning to old-fashioned "brick-and-mortar" ways. In the coming months, Dr. Koop will begin promoting its own line of home health care products and supplements like ginko-biloba.

"Selling advertising and licensing content's dead," said Rosenblatt. "We realize that, and now we're taking the business off-line." And he's confident that by shifting their focus from the Internet to actual services and products, the company can turn a profit in about a year.

But 12 months is a long time — and a lot of sleepless nights. "I don't sleep," said Rosenblatt. "I gave that up a long time ago."

—ABCNEWS Radio