PSS World Medical, Inc., Jacksonville, FL, has sold a portion of its shares of athenahealth, Inc., a provider of Internet-based healthcare information technology and business services to physician practices. The company had purchased approximately 1.5 million shares of athenahealth, Inc. prior to its initial public offering in September 2007.
David A. Smith, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of PSS World Medical, Inc., said: The athenahealth product is a great fit for our customers, especially in this era of declining physician incomes. We invested several million dollars in training, education, and rollout for this long-term relationship that is now offset by the partial monetization of our stock holdings. We are looking forward to a very good year with athenahealth and …
Latest In Pharmaceutical & Health Care
McKesson Corp. must face a class-action lawsuit filed by consumers and third-party payers claiming the drug distributor illegally inflated the wholesale price of prescription medicines, according to a recent court ruling by a U.S. District Court. The class action was certified on Wednesday.
The judge initially certified the suit in August 2007, but not for damages, which the most recent ruling includes. Attorneys estimate that damages on behalf of consumers could total from $200 to $800 million and damages on behalf of third-party payers will exceed $5 billion.
The lawsuit claims McKesson violated the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) act, and if found guilty, could be forced to pay treble damages.
The suit, originally …
Cardinal Health, Dublin, OH, has agreed to buy Enturia Inc. for $490 million. The cash transaction includes Enturia’s line of infection prevention products sold under the ChloraPrep brand name and is expected to close within 60 days.
The acquisition will expand the company’s Medical Products and Technologies segment.
Enturia (www.enturia.com) was founded as Medi-Flex Hospital Products in 1985. Over the past two years, the company’s revenue has grown more than 70% to $140 million in 2007. The company has about 600 employees in Kansas, Texas and the United Kingdom.
Separately, Cardinal Health has decided to pursue the sale of several smaller, non-core offerings within its Medical Products and Technologies segment. Cardinal Health says it will …
McKesson Corp., San Francisco, CA, reported revenues for the second quarter ended Sept. 30, 2007, were $24.5 billion compared with $22.4 billion a year ago, up 9%. Profit was up 8% to $247 million.
Year-to-date, sales are up 7% to $48.9 billion.
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In its Distribution Solutions segment, U.S. pharmaceutical distribution revenues grew 9% in the second quarter. Warehouse sales increased 5%. Canadian revenues increased 15% for the quarter, including a favorable currency impact of 8%, and medical-surgical distribution revenues were up 11% for the quarter.
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In Technology Solutions, revenues were up 36% for the quarter. Services revenues were up 52% and software and software systems revenues were up 4%. …
McKesson Corporation, San Francisco, CA, has agreed to buy Oncology Therapeutics Network, a U.S. distributor of specialty pharmaceuticals, for $575 million.
According to Pembroke Consulting’s Adam Fein, OTN owns Onmark, a large buying group for thousands of small accounts. He says in his Distribution Trends blog: “Such forward integration makes it virtually impossible for a manufacturer to bypass and sell directly to the customer, because the distributor and the customer are the same company.” The customers of OTN will continue to operate as separate businesses.
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Sales of specialty drugs are increasing rapidly, especially oncology drugs. OTN …
A U.S. District judge certified a class-action lawsuit Tuesday against pharmaceutical distributor McKesson Corp., San Francisco, CA, in a legal battle over drug pricing, according to law firm Hagen Berman.
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The suit, originally filed in U.S. District Court in Boston, MA, in October 2006 on behalf of consumers and third-party payers, alleges that McKesson -one of the largest pharmaceutical distributors in North America -entered into a secret agreement to artificially inflate the reported average wholesale price of thousands of drugs, a benchmark used by Medicaid and insurance plans to determine payment to pharmacies.
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In her ruling, Judge Patti Saris certified the case as a class action representing millions of healthcare consumers who made co-payments on what …
AmerisourceBergen Corporation, Valley Forge, PA, has agreed to buy Bellco Health, a privately held distributor of branded and generic pharmaceuticals, for $235 million in cash.
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AmerisourceBergen said Bellco will add strength in the New York City area, as well as a sophisticated generic pharmaceuticals sales and marketing business. Bellco also sells dialysis products and services that will complement AmerisourceBergen’s specialty distribution business.
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Headquartered in North Amityville, New York, Bellco Health has annualized revenues of $2 billion and is a major pharmaceutical distributor in New York City, where it primarily services independent retail community pharmacies. Nationally, the company markets and sells generic pharmaceuticals to individual retail …
