For an undisclosed price, Walgreens is acquiring McKesson’s business in specialty pharmacy, which Walgreens says will strengthen it as the fourth-largest specialty pharmacy in the U.S. The acquisition includes the McKesson specialty pharmacy in Pittsburgh, and IVPCARE (Frisco, TX), with operations in Torrence, CA, Wilmington, MA and St. Louis.

“We welcome this addition to our specialty pharmacy business,” said Michael Nameth, EVP of Walgreens Health Services. “Both organizations complement each other with disease-focused care teams and enhanced clinical and therapy management programs. Together, we will provide the highest level of quality and customer service for the patients and clients we serve.”

The decision comes on the heels of Walgreens’ withdrawal of a proposed acquisition of Longs Drug Stores; in addition to the unwanted (by Longs) bid, Walgreens cited “the substantial deterioration in the national economic outlook over the past few weeks.” CVS Caremark announced a successful completion of the acquisition on Oct. 20.

In or out
From McKesson’s perspective, the decision is something of a retreat from recent pushes into add-on services beyond drug distribution, such as the formation of its Patient Relationship Solutions business last year. But Adam Fein, president of Pembroke Consulting, says that “the deal is also a good move for McKesson. Specialty pharmacy is a very small part of the company’s overall specialty business, lacks scale, and is a fundamentally different business than McKesson’s core wholesale distribution operations.”

Specialty pharmacies concentrate on patients with extra needs, such as having injected or infused drugs. The leaders in the space are also the biggest PBMs: CVS Caremark, Express Scripts and Medco Health Solutions. Many smaller firms, such as up-and-comer Centric Health Resources (Chesterfield, MO) are carving out a position. For manufacturers, the specialty pharmacy channel offers the potential of a more-direct link to patients; for pharmacies, the business offers additional revenue streams, such as those coming from the medical benefits of health plans in addition to the drug benefits. PC