AmerisourceBergen and Walgreens Boots Alliance announce strategic transaction

AmerisourceBergen Corporation (NYSE: ABC) and Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (Nasdaq: WBA) today announced strategic agreements under which AmerisourceBergen will acquire the majority of Walgreens Boots Alliance’s Alliance Healthcare businesses for approximately $6.5 billion, comprised of $6.275 billion in cash and 2 million shares of AmerisourceBergen common stock.

AmerisourceBergen’s acquisition of Alliance Healthcare will provide even stronger support for pharmacies and pharmacists across the globe and integrated solutions for pharmaceutical manufacturers.  Walgreens Boots Alliance will be able to increase its focus on expanding its core retail pharmacy businesses, bringing even greater healthcare offerings to patients and customers and further accelerating its progress on its clear set of strategic priorities.

In addition to this transaction, the two companies have agreed to strengthen their strategic partnership by extending and expanding their commercial agreements. Their US distribution agreement will be extended by three years until 2029 and their partnership is being expanded to include a commitment to pursue additional opportunities in sourcing and distribution. Furthermore, Alliance Healthcare UK will remain the distribution partner of Boots until 2031. Together, these agreements are expected to create incremental growth, synergies and efficiencies.

“This strategic agreement with AmerisourceBergen, which we consider to be the world’s leading pharmaceutical wholesaler, is a very positive development for the two companies. This deal will enable significant value creation for both companies and will generate new synergies in addition to those already captured. It is a logical step following the success of our long-term strategic relationship with AmerisourceBergen which has been a strong and trusted partner since 2013,” said Stefano Pessina, Executive Vice Chairman and CEO, Walgreens Boots Alliance. “The transaction will fuel higher future investments to grow and transform our core retail pharmacy and healthcare businesses, and is EPS accretive long-term for Walgreens Boots Alliance.”

“AmerisourceBergen’s vital role in the health system as a key pillar of pharmaceutical innovation and access has been on full display over the past year,” said Steven Collis, Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer of AmerisourceBergen. “AmerisourceBergen’s financial and strategic position enable this next evolution of enhancing our ability to provide healthcare capabilities across regions and deliver innovative solutions for our upstream and downstream partners. Today’s announcements will expand our reach and solutions in pharmaceutical distribution and add to AmerisourceBergen’s breadth and depth of global manufacturer services, supporting our ability to create differentiated value for all our stakeholders. I look forward to extending and expanding our successful partnership with Walgreens Boots Alliance and welcoming the industry-leading team at Alliance Healthcare to AmerisourceBergen. Together, we will fulfill AmerisourceBergen’s purpose of being united in our responsibility to create healthier futures.”

These announcements between the two global enterprises continue to build on the close partnership and strong foundation that began in 2013. Walgreens Boots Alliance is the largest shareholder of AmerisourceBergen with a stake of nearly 30 percent, and Ornella Barra, Co-Chief Operating Officer, Walgreens Boots Alliance, is a Board Member of AmerisourceBergen.

Further information can be found here

Alphega Pharmacy Members Win at Prestigious Pharmacy Awards

Two Alphega Pharmacy members triumphed at this year’s Chemist and Druggist awards: Jackie Lewis, Lewis Pharmacy, and Graham Phillips, Manor Pharmacy. Jackie and Graham have been recognised at one of the highest pharmaceutical industry levels for their remarkable efforts in assisting early diagnosis of cancer, diabetes and associated diseases.

Jackie Lewis, Alphega Pharmacy member and Pharmacist Director, has been at the heart of her community in Exmouth for over 20 years as owner and pharmacist at Lewis Pharmacy. COVID-19 changed the face of the world this year, and pharmacies were called upon to be part of their communities like never before - Lewis Pharmacy played its part by delivering all of its pharmacy services throughout 2020, to the benefit of the local community and UK patients.

At the end of what has been an extremely challenging year, Jackie has been awarded: “Community Pharmacist of the Year” at the reputable Chemist and Druggist awards, and is delighted to be recognised by the industry that she loves working in.

Over the last few years, Jackie has been increasingly involved in bringing community pharmacies to the forefront of assisting in early diagnosis of cancer by pharmacy teams. Working in collaboration with Macmillan, Cancer Research UK, British Oncology Pharmacy Association and now pharma industry partners, she started the year finalising the: ’Not Normal For You’ project within a group of local pharmacies. Jackie has since recruited a team of experts from all over the UK to work on a national early diagnosis project for pharmacy staff which will hopefully be released in early 2021.

Mike Smith, Alliance Healthcare UK, Non-Executive Advisor added: “Jackie (and Martyn Lewis) has looked after my wife Rosie and I for 10 years - the quality of her advice on medicines management is of the highest quality. The service from Lewis Pharmacy is second to none. This award proves how important the work you carry out really is, congratulations to you Jackie.”

Graham Phillips, Alphega Pharmacy member and Superintendent Pharmacist of Manor Pharmacy and ProLongevity Founder, was awarded: “Health Initiative of the Year” for his work with ProLongevity, a Diabetes Prevention Service. Graham said: “I am both delighted and humbled to receive such a prestigious award. Type 2 diabetes, and associated diseases such as obesity, cardio-vascular disease and dementia are a worldwide pandemic. Helping patients find sustainable solutions to preventing or reversing these long-term conditions by improving their lifestyles via the www.prolongevity.co.uk programme is truly a joy.”

Raj Nutan, Head of Alphega Pharmacy UK said: “All Alphega Pharmacy members demonstrate incredible support for UK patients, day-in, day-out, and we are very proud of all the efforts from community pharmacy, but in particular Jackie and Graham. Their commitment, energy and determination to help people in the UK live healthier and happier lives, and fight life-threatening diseases is truly incredible and I am delighted their efforts have achieved this level of recognition.”

Alliance Healthcare is proud to work with Alphega Pharmacy members and support their exceptional efforts.

Pharmacy Business Virtual Conference 2020

Like many events this year, the Pharmacy Business Conference took place in a virtual setting, as pharmacy leaders came together for two evenings on Tuesday 24th and Thursday 26th November, to discuss the future of community pharmacy.

Julian Mount, Managing Director, Alliance Healthcare joined the Pharmacy Leaders Panel, alongside Simon Dukes, PSNC, Mark Lyonette, and NPA, Ashley Cowen, AAH, hosted by Michael Holden, Associate Director, Pharmacy Complete.

Watch the highlights video of our involvement here

Alliance Healthcare and Boots UK Donate 500,000 Lifesaving Medicine, Almus Dexamethasone to the NHS

Alliance Healthcare, the UK’s largest medical wholesaler and partner to the NHS, and Boots UK, the largest pharmacy-led health and beauty chain in the UK, both part of Walgreens Boots Alliance, have donated 500,000 2mg Almus Dexamethasone tablets to the NHS in a joint commitment to the NHS and UK patients in support of the fight against COVID-19.

The decision came when UK experts at RECOVERY clinical trial[1] announced the benefits of Dexamethasone in June, describing how the low-dose steroid treatment can reduce fatalities by up to one third in hospitalised patients with severe respiratory complications of COVID-19.

Working together, Julian Mount, Alliance Healthcare UK Managing Director and Seb James, Managing Director of Boots UK and ROI, wrote letters to Sir Simon Stevens, Chief Executive Officer of the NHS and Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with an offer to donate the lifesaving medicine to the NHS and support the major breakthrough in the fight against COVID-19.

Alliance Healthcare UK has recently completed delivery of the 500,000 2mg Almus Dexamethasone tablets to Public Heath England, who are holding stockpiles of medicines to be distributed to the NHS hospitals across the UK, as and when needed. Julian Mount commented: “The outcome presented a fantastic opportunity for Alliance Healthcare and Boots UK to further demonstrate their support and friendship to the NHS.”

John Southall, Senior Pharmacy Purchasing Technician at Mid and South Essex University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said: “It was evident from early COVID-19 trials that Dexamethasone was very important in the treatment of severely ill patients as it was shown to improve symptoms very quickly in some patients, consequently preventing many patients progressing on to requiring costly mechanical ventilation and long term hospital care.”

Commenting on the donation John Southall adds: “It was very generous and civic minded of Alliance Healthcare to donate this quantity to the NHS. The quantity fed into the Central Stock Pile was vast, and exceeded actual requirements.”

Julian Mount said: “The hard work and dedication of the NHS to patients across the UK continues to amaze me and I hope the recent donation of Almus Dexamethasone will help to save lives and support the incredible efforts of NHS teams.”

Seb James added: “In times of national pandemic, and as we see incident rates rising, we believe that it’s the duty of all businesses to do what they can to support the national effort and fight against COVID-19. I believe that this donation is another way that we can practically offer our support to the NHS and Government, and we feel very proud to do so.”

Celebrating World Children's Day

This 20 November 2020, see’s Alliance Healthcare recognising World Children Day by setting our colleagues a cooking challenge to raise funds for our wonderful charity partner, Vitamin Angels UK, kindly supported by the sponsor of our event, the LCM Group an established company located in the North West who’s business includes the Design, Building and Maintenance of commercial properties and complexes within the UK.

Using only £5 or less, our internal teams have been asked to create a healthy dish to raise awareness of childhood nutrition in the UK.

It is estimated that one in four children in the UK are from low income households and are at risk for food insecurity.  With limited resources, food insecure families often resort to purchasing inexpensive and sometime unhealthy foods.  With our colleagues help, we’re hoping to create some low cost, healthy alternatives for inspiration!

Vitamin Angels UK is a global charity that fights childhood malnutrition in the UK and around the world. In the UK, Vitamin Angels has a supplemental feeding programme that supports children from low-income communities who can benefit from increased access to better nutrition. The cost to reach a child with a nutritious serving of food is only 20p. Globally, Vitamin Angels provides women and  children with life-changing vitamins and minerals. They work in over 70 countries around the world and reach over 70 million women and children every year.

Our thanks go out to our exclusive sponsor of this event, the LCM Group, for their support in helping to raise awareness of our chosen charity.

To find out more about the fantastic work of  Vitamin Angels UK or to contribute to our charity partner, click here.

New State-of-the Art Warehouse Facility for Alloga UK

Alloga UK, one of the country’s leading healthcare pre-wholesaling and contract logistics companies, is to open another state-of-the art warehouse facility in the East Midlands.

Alloga UK provides supply chain solutions to the healthcare industry, offering specialist storage, fulfilment and distribution services for pharmaceutical, healthcare, medical device, veterinary and consumer product manufacturing companies. 

Alloga UK’s operations are currently based in South Normanton, with eight pharma-grade warehouses and the company’s strategy is one of growth and continued investment for a sound future for the business and its employees.

The company now needs to further expand its storage and distribution capacity in order to accommodate growth from new business wins, post Brexit and Covid-19 stock builds and increase in volumes from existing clients to provide capacity for continued growth beyond 2020.

Alloga UK is now delighted to announce that a new site will be added to their current warehouse portfolio, and is planned to be fully commissioned and operationally live in mid-2021.

Currently named  Derby 370, this new site, which will be known as AP8, is located on Derby Commercial Park which is 20 miles south of the Alloga Campus with good links to the M1 motorway and two miles east of the city of Derby facilitating good access to the working population. The distribution site has been developed by the owners, Panattoni (the world’s largest privately owned industrial developer) and it is significantly larger than Alloga’s existing warehouses, allowing them much needed new capacity for sustained future growth.

The specification of the site includes:

- Total size of 371,000 sq ft (34,466 sq m)

- 15 metres to haunch

- Capacity for c.70,000 pallets of storage (euro pallets)

- BREEAM = Very Good status

- Administration offices over three floors

- Warehouse office hub over two floors

- 74 HGV lorry parking spaces and 270 car parking spaces

- 24 dock level doors, eight Double Deck docks and three level access doors

Chris Williams, Managing Director of Alloga UK, states: “It is always fantastic news when we open new facilities, and Derby 370 is particularly exciting because it will be our largest warehouse and the first warehouse which is not located in South Normanton.

It gives us the opportunity to expand the capabilities of our pre-wholesale business, and further increase job opportunities for existing staff and also new skilled and talented staff from the Derby area.

“Our capabilities and service offering for our customers, and manufacturer partners, will continue to evolve with this considerable investment, which will also further enhance our ability to provide innovative solutions and services to meet the ever changing needs of our clients.”

Alliance Healthcare is proudly celebrating Diwali

Across our business, we have a workforce that is diverse and rich in culture, much like our customer base.

In the spirit of this, we have put together a short video featuring our team member Marni Gill, who shares whatDiwali is and what it means for him.

Have a look at our celebration video!

Our Managaing Director, Julian Mount, also features in this month’s Pharmacy Business Diwali special, alongside pharmacists and pharmacy leaders, sharing hopes and aspirations for the year ahead, as well as reflecting on the year that has passed.

On behalf of all of us at Alliance Healthcare, we wish a happy Diwali to all those who celebrate.

Alcura achieves data security certification

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has accredited Alcura with its prestigious data security standard  

Alcura, our patient care business, has worked tirelessly over the last few years to ensure patient data is protected and that all its systems and processes are secure and stable.

The hard work has paid off as the business has been awarded with a data security accreditation, known as the ISO27001, from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) – an independent, non-governmental organisation for international standards in areas such as quality, health and safety, IT security, energy, and environmental management.

It’s not easy to achieve but it’s an important one for hospital trusts and manufacturer partners as it demonstrates that data security is taken seriously by the business. And this will strengthen Alcura’s position when submitting tenders. It’s also the team’s third ISO accreditation as they already have the Quality Management (ISO9001) and Environmental Management (ISO14001) certifications.

Commenting on the team’s latest achievement Simon Jones, Head of Homecare and Secondary Care, says: “We work very closely with the NHS and a number of hospital trusts, and support over 34,000 homecarepatients. We have a special responsibility to look after our patients and we take protecting their data seriously. I’m very proud of the team for attaining this endorsement as it’s one of the hardest to achieve.” 

Alcura’s work on data protection was also acknowledged in 2019 as they won an internal WBA award for a data privacy project with Boots, which enabled HIV patients to collect their medication anonymously.

Walgreens Boots Alliance and McKesson Complete the Formation of German Wholesale Joint Venture

Joint venture demonstrates innovative strength of two companies with impressive and trusted healthcare heritage in the German wholesale market

Deerfield, Ill. and Irving, Texas, Nov. 2, 2020

Walgreens Boots Alliance (Nasdaq: WBA) and McKesson Corporation (NYSE: MCK) today announced the completion of their previously announced agreement to create a joint venture combining their respective pharmaceutical wholesale businesses in Germany, Alliance Healthcare Deutschland (AHD) and GEHE Pharma Handel (GEHE). WBA holds a 70 percent controlling equity interest in the joint venture and McKesson holds the remaining 30 percent interest.

“At Walgreens Boots Alliance, we all look forward to working together with McKesson Corporation on this joint venture,” said Ornella Barra, co-chief operating officer, Walgreens Boots Alliance. “It is a very exciting step for our Pharmaceutical Wholesale Division and a unique chance for us to further develop innovative services to manufacturers and pharmacists in Germany.”

“The completion of this strategic partnership with Walgreens Boots Alliance enables us to strengthen and secure the future of pharmaceutical distribution in the German market,” said Kevin Kettler, chairman of the management board and president McKesson International. “Together, we look forward to delivering a successful model of operations to benefit the German healthcare ecosystem of patients, pharmacies and manufacturers.”

With future challenges in the healthcare sector, the new company is committed to strengthening the pharmacist's position as a healthcare professional, creating innovative added value services and significantly enhancing digitalisation and operational excellence.

Alliance Healthcare to Reduce Single-Use Plastic by 60% in Three Years

Alliance Healthcare in the UK has announced its promise to reduce single-use secondary plastic within the business by 60% within three years, as part of its “Getting drastic with plastic” campaign. The plastics saving initiatives have been live within the business since 2019 and even the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have not stopped progress.

Alliance Healthcare UK recently started to roll out new reusable tote bins to replace plastic bags and cardboard packaging to its Health and Beauty customers, as part of the initial initiatives to reduce plastic. Julian Mount, Managing Director said: “We recognise that as an industry leader we must pioneer the way in reducing our impact on the environment. Our three year plan will entail an ambitious 35% reduction of single-use plastic secondary packaging by September 2021.”

The work being carried out across the entire workforce includes: removal of invoice bags, switching to paper bubble wrap and investment in reusable totes.

Jon Cornforth, Environment, Health and Safety Manager says: “Every year, over 2 million units of single-use plastic bags and cardboard boxes will be removed from our operations, considerably lessening Alliance Healthcare’s carbon footprint.”

To date, Alliance Healthcare UK has already saved over 39 tonnes and by the close of fiscal-year 2021 will have saved 131 tonnes. The aim is to have reduced the overall use of single-use secondary plastic by an impressive 60% by September 2022.

Alliance Healthcare UK team members will mark the launch of the “Getting drastic with plastic” campaign with installations at each of its 14 Service Centre sites across the UK, where colleagues can learn about the promise and get involved with the local initiatives whilst also considering their own day to day behaviours that may impact the environment and making a commitment to the planet. The installation will be produced from completely plant-based materials to go along with the ecological theme of the action.