AmerisourceBergen Company Brief


AmerisourceBergen Company Brief










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Company Brief
AmerisourceBergen

by Karen Spring

Copyright 2019, Faulkner Information Services. All Rights Reserved.

Docid: 00011314

Publication Date: 1901

Report Type: VENDOR

Preview

AmerisourceBergen is a massive global pharmaceutical
sourcing and distribution services company that primarily provides prescription drugs and
related services to drug manufacturers and healthcare providers
throughout the US. The company’s key aim is to provide services to the global pharmaceutical supply
channel. This brief
looks at AmerisourceBergen’s operations in greater detail.

Report Contents:

Fast Facts

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Name: AmerisourceBergen Corp.
Headquarters: 1300 Morris Drive
Chesterbrook, PA 19087 US
Mailing Address:
PO Box 959
Valley Forge, PA 19482 US
(610) 727-7000
Web: https://www.amerisourcebergen.com/
Type of Vendor: Pharmaceutical
Founded: 2001
Symbol: ABC (NYSE)
Service Areas: North America and the UK

Description

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AmerisourceBergen is one
of the largest global pharmaceutical sourcing and distribution services
companies. It helps healthcare providers, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and
biotech manufacturers improve patient data access to products and enhanced
patient care. The company distributes an offering of brand-name and generic
pharmaceuticals, over-the-counter healthcare products, home healthcare supplies
and equipment, and related services to healthcare providers in the US and
select global markets. It
also
furnishes healthcare providers and pharmaceutical manufacturers with related
services such as reimbursement and pharmaceutical consulting services, niche
premium logistics services, inventory management, pharmacy automation, and
pharmacy management.

The
company operates a Pharmaceutical Distribution Services reportable segment and
an Other segment consisting of its areas that focus on global commercialization,
animal health, and consulting. 

 It has 21,000 employees (September 2018) in all. 

Strategy

AmerisourceBergen’s
strategy is to focus on the global pharmaceutical supply channel, through which it provides distribution
and service solutions for healthcare providers – including pharmacies, health
systems, medical and dialysis clinics, and physicians as well as
pharmaceutical manufacturers to increase channel efficiencies and improve
patient outcomes. In particular, it
continues to optimize and grow its pharmaceutical distribution service business
and global commercialization and animal health business while seeking out other
businesses to acquire that add further investment. 

History

AmerisourceBergen has grown
out of several other companies. Key moments in the company’s history include:

  • 1977 – Alco Standard Corporation establishes
    its Health Services Group.
  • 1985 – Alco Health Services is incorporated.
  • 1995 – Alco Health Services is renamed as the
    publicly traded AmeriSource Health Corporation.
  • 2001 – AmeriSource merges with drug company
    Bergen Brunswig and is renamed AmerisourceBergen.
  • 2013 – Amerisource Bergen sells off AmerisourceBergen Canada,
    its Canadian pharmaceutical distribution business; as well as AndersonBrecon,
    its contract packaging and clinical trials services business.
  • 2014 – The company acquires pharmaceutical
    wholesaler Proforma Distribuidora de Produtos Farmaceuticos.
  • 2015 – AmerisourceBergen acquired MWI
    Veterinary Supply, an animal health distribution company, for approximately
    $2.5 billion. Also in 2015, AmerisourceBergen acquired PharMEDium Healthcare
    Holdings from Clayton, Dubilier & Rirce for $2.6 billion.
  • 2016 –  AmerisourceBergen and Publix announced a
    distribution agreement regarding branded, generic, and over-the-counter
    health and pharmaceutical products. 
  • 2018 – AmerisourceBergen begins the year by completing the
    acquisition of HD Smith for $815 million. The company is forced to pay
    $625 million for a total of $885 million in a civil fraud case. 

Key Executives

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Key members of AmerisourceBergen’s management team
include:

Chairman / President / Chief Executive Officer: Steven H. Collis
Executive Vice President (EVP) and Group President, Global Commercialization Services & Animal Health: James F. Cleary,
Jr.
EVP and Group Chief Financial Officer, Pharmaceutical Distribution and
Strategic Global Sourcing: Sun Park 
EVP and Group President, Pharmaceutical Division & Strategic Global
Sourcing: Robert Mauch
EVP and Chief Communications and Administration Officer: Gina Clark
Chief Information Officer and EVP: Dale Danilewitz
Chief Compliance Officer and EVP: Kathy Gaddes
EVP and Chief Legal and Business Officer: John Chou
EVP and President, Community and Specialty Pharmacy: Rich Tremonte
Chief Transformation Officer: Albert Morales

Major Services

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Table 1 describes the company’s key offerings. 

Table 1. AmerisourceBergen Services
Product/Service

 Description
Pharmaceutical Solutions

Concentrates on the pharmaceutical supply chain distribution, servicing retail
pharmacies, mail-order pharmacies, medical clinics, acute-care hospitals, and
alternate site pharmacies.

Its products include:

  • Brand name pharmaceuticals
  • Generic pharmaceuticals
  • Over-the-counter healthcare products
  • Home healthcare supplies and equipment

Other offerings include pharmacy management, staffing and consulting, supply management software, and packaging solutions. 

Physician Practice Solutions

AmerisourceBergen’s solutions for physicians are designed to streamline tasks
for the practice and provide more positive clinical outcomes. 

Distribution services include oncology and specialty care products, ecommerce
platforms, in-office dispensing of pharmaceuticals, and specialty pharmacy
services. 

Inventory management solutions include cloud-based services for receiving,
dispensing, and tracking products and a cloud-based inventory and billing
reconciliation system. A service that helps oncology practices keep track of
supplies is also available.

Quality care offerings from AmerisourceBergen include a urology-specific
electronic health record system and a research network comprised of community
specialty practices that provide access to clinical research opportunities for
both providers and patients.

AmerisourceBergen also provides advocacy services that help practices
navigate through the complexities of reimbursements and payments.  

Health Systems Solutions

To help hospitals provide a high level of care, AmerisourceBergen’s Health
Systems deliver distribution and procurement services. These include 340B
consulting, supply chain services, patient assistance programs, financial
performance services, operating room anesthesia, critical care units, pain
management, labor and delivery, packaging, ambulatory pharmacy, specialty
pharmacy, managed services, and transitional care.

Manufacturer Solutions

AmerisourceBergen has an array of solutions for health systems, specialty care
practices, and community pharmacies which include global clinical trial
logistics, global health economics consulting, provider awareness and education,
field reimbursement support, compounded sterile preparations, independent
pharmacy network, and over-the-counter and consumer healthcare products. 

Animal Health

Sells pharmaceuticals, vaccines, parasiticides, diagnostics, micro feed
ingredients, and other products to customers in both the companion animal and
production animal markets.

Major Competitors

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AmerisourceBergen faces a competitive global
environment in the distribution of pharmaceuticals and related healthcare
services. Its top competitors are McKesson and Cardinal Health. Other
competitors include FFF Enterprises, Henry Schein, and UPS Logistics.

Recent Activity

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In 2018, AmerisourceBergen was instructed to pay $625 million to resolve a
civil fraud case after four individuals, including the company’s former chief
operating officer, blew the whistle. Part of the case surrounds the company
selling syringes for oncology patients that had been pre-filled in an unsterile
environment between January 2001 and January 2014. This brings the company’s
total payout for the case to $885 million. AmerisourceBergen had also used
"overfill" on original vials of cancer medications to create more
doses than had been purchased – enabling it to snag nearly $100 million in
additional profit. Also, AmerisourceBergen allegedly billed multiple physicians
for individual vials, bilking the government out of Medicaid funds and delivered
kickbacks to doctors. AmerisourceBergen "placed corporate profits over
patients’ needs, endangering the health of vulnerable cancer patients," US
Attorney Richard Donoghue said in a statement. The four whistleblowers shared
$99 million from the payout while an additional $99.9 million was paid to state
Medicaid programs.

An AmerisourceBergen subsidiary, PharMEDium, has halted its compounding
business in Memphis after an array of violations – aseptic processing area
issues among them – came to light. According to AmerisourceBergen, PharMEDium
has been working with the FDA and a branch of the Justice Department as part of
its remediation processes, but it is unclear when – or if – that particular
facility will be back in business. Production activities have been suspended
since December 2017.

About the Author

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Karen M. Spring is a staff editor for Faulkner Information
Services, tracking high-tech industries, including network security, data
breaches and cybercriminal activity, CRM, network management, Internet security,
and software tools. She writes regularly on high-tech topics for publications in
the k-12 and higher education industry. Previously, Ms. Spring was a marketing
specialist for two computer distributors, working closely with such clients as
3Com, IBM, Okidata, Unisys, and Acer.

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