Walgreen to buy specialty pharmacy chain

Deerfield, Ill. -- U.S. drugstore giant Walgreen Co. said Monday it would purchase specialty-pharmacy operator Option Care Inc. for about $760 million.

The $19.50-a-share purchase -- which Walgreen said in a news release would total about $850 million after assuming Option Care debt -- is the chain's biggest move into the specialty-pharmacy sector.

The 5,751-store chain valued the sector at $60 billion a year and expected it would grow 20 percent a year.

Walgreen's earlier acquisitions in the sector include Take Care Health Systems, Medmark Specialty Pharmacy Solutions, SeniorMed Pharmacy and Schraft's A Specialty Pharmacy.

Option Care, based in Buffalo Grove, Ill., provides medications and treatment services for complex diseases such as cancer, hemophilia, multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis.

It has more than 100 pharmacy locations, many of them franchises, in 34 states. It also has contracts with more than 400 managed-care organizations.

Walgreen, of Deerfield, Ill., said Option Care would be incorporated into Medmark, with Medmark President William Gecsey running the division.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International.