The agreement also includes incentive payments of up to $55 million based on
Bridge Medical achieving significant earnings targets in calendar years 2003 and
2004. AmerisourceBergen expects the purchase to be neutral to earnings in fiscal
2003 and accretive in fiscal 2004 after the effect of any incentive payments.
Bridge Medical, which is headquartered in the San Diego area and privately held,
anticipates revenues of approximately $25 million in calendar year 2003. The
transaction is expected to close by the end of calendar year 2002.
"We are extremely excited about Bridge's market-leading, proven patient safety
technology," said R. David Yost, AmerisourceBergen's Chief Executive Officer.
"Hospitals and other medical facilities are already using this technology to
increase medication accuracy and improve operating efficiency. Our customers and
suppliers need unique, tailored solutions for delivering pharmaceuticals, and
this acquisition is one more example of our commitment to enhance our offerings
in the pharmaceutical supply channel."
"Combining Bridge's patient safety technology with AmerisourceBergen's high
service distribution capability, the in-pharmacy barcode application capability
of our recently acquired AutoMed operation, and the packaging options of our
American Health Packaging unit provides the kind of pharmaceutical management
solutions our customers are seeking," said Kurt J. Hilzinger,
AmerisourceBergen's President and Chief Operating Officer. "We now have the most
comprehensive service offering in the industry with which to address the
challenges of staffing shortages, medication errors and rising costs in today's
healthcare environment."
"Joining AmerisourceBergen gives us the platform and resources to rapidly expand
this business," said John B. Grotting, Bridge's President and Chief Executive
Officer. "With the demand for improvements in patient medication safety
continuing to grow, we are very excited about the market opportunities in
long-term care and acute care facilities that are ahead for us as part of
AmerisourceBergen."
Developed for hospitals and other patient care facilities, Bridge's two primary
products are MedPoint(TM) and InfoPoint(TM). First introduced in 1999, MedPoint
is the only BPOC system to combine both medication and blood product
administration verification with laboratory specimen identification.
This patient safety product helps hospitals and health systems increase
efficiency and eliminate medication errors related to pharmaceutical and blood
transfusion administration and laboratory specimen tracking.
MedPoint goes beyond the basic "five rights" of medication monitoring (right
patient, right drug, right dose, right time and right route of administration)
to also include features such as allergy alerts, look-alike and sounds-alike
alerts, and high risk medication warnings.
Bridge's newest product, InfoPoint, is a data warehouse system that allows
clinicians and administrators to combine clinical and financial data to improve
patient outcomes and reduce costs.
It integrates both clinical and financial data into a single repository, giving
hospitals unique views of both prospective and retrospective patient and
medication use data that can be applied to therapeutic guideline compliance
monitoring.
About AmerisourceBergen
The Company is also a leader in the institutional pharmacy marketplace. With
more than $40 billion in annualized operating revenue, AmerisourceBergen is
headquartered in Valley Forge, PA, and employs more than 13,000 people serving
over 25,000 customers. For more information got to www.amerisourcebergen.com.
About Bridge Medical
Forward-Looking Statements
Actual results may vary materially from the expectations contained in the
forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements may include statements
addressing future financial and operating results of AmerisourceBergen and the
benefits and aspects of the 2001 merger between AmeriSource Health Corporation
and Bergen Brunswig Corporation.
The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ
materially from those described in the forward-looking statements: the risk that
the businesses of AmeriSource and Bergen Brunswig will not be integrated
successfully; failure to obtain and retain expected synergies; and other
economic, business, competitive and/or regulatory factors affecting the business
of AmerisourceBergen generally.
More detailed information about these factors is set forth in
AmerisourceBergen's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission,
including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for fiscal 2001, its Quarterly Reports
on Form 10-Q for fiscal 2002, and the joint proxy statement-prospectus for the
merger filed on August 1, 2001.
AmerisourceBergen is under no obligation to (and expressly disclaims any such
obligation to) update or alter any forward-looking statements whether as a
result of new information, future events or otherwise.
CONTACT: AmerisourceBergen, Valley Forge
Michael N. Kilpatric, 610/727-7118
mkilpatric@amerisource.com