FRANKLIN LAKES, N.J., Dec. 7 Medco Health Solutions, Inc., today announced that its majority-owned subsidiary serving Germany, Europa Apotheek Venlo, has acquired shop-apotheke.com -- one of the country's leading online OTC and healthcare products sites. The combined businesses intend to provide greater choice and convenience for consumers across Germany for their prescription medicine and non-prescription drug store product needs.
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"At Medco, our core values are improving patient safety and advancing clinical care, while addressing the growing costs in health care," said John Driscoll, Medco president for New Markets. "This partnership, as well as collaborations with the Swedish government to deliver a national drug safety system, and United Drug in the United Kingdom to enhance homecare for patients treated within the National Health Service system, are part of Medco's strategy of partnering with health care organizations and implementing and advancing our technologies and clinical expertise in other countries."
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shop-apotheke.com, which offers over-the-counter medicines and a wide assortment of other healthcare products will be managed through Medco's subsidiary Europa Apotheek Venlo, a leading provider of mail-order prescription drugs for the German market. The combined operations will focus on using technology and innovation to drive differentiated solutions for consumers in Germany that lead to better management for the full continuum of products ranging from OTC preparations and related healthcare items to prescription drugs and specialty medicines.
"shop-apotheke delivers the drug store experience directly to the customer's home, offering greater convenience and choice. Together with our resources, this combination of entrepreneurial German innovators is intent on accelerating growth in the market for online healthcare products," said Klaus Gritschneder, co-founder and head of communications of Europa Apotheek Venlo.
In April 2008, Medco acquired a majority stake in Europa Apotheek Venlo. shop-apotheke.com will retain its brand and operate under the continuing leadership of its current management team.
The acquisition of shop-apotheke.com by Europa Apotheek Venlo was approved by German merger control authorities on November 12. The parties did not disclose the financial details of the transaction, which is scheduled to close in January 2010.
About Europa Apotheek Venlo
Europa Apotheek Venlo was founded in 2001 and today serves the German and Dutch markets. A full-service pharmacy, it also specializes in supplying drugs to patients with chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardio-vascular diseases, arthritis, asthma, COPD (chronic-obstructive pulmonary disease), multiple sclerosis and HIV. In addition to its own mail-order offerings, Europa Apotheek Venlo offers an order-and-pickup service for prescription drugs at PharmaPoints in some 1,000 dm-drogeriemarkt drugstores. Europa Apotheek Venlo is among the largest mail-order pharmacies in Europe.
For more information, please visit www.europa-apotheek.com.
About shop-apotheke.com
The success model pursued by shop-apotheke.com resulted from the idea of developing an online shop that would offer unrivaled variety and selection of drugs and health products. With customer-friendly service and quick delivery, shop-apotheke.com makes it easy, safe and economical to buy with just a click of the mouse. This convenience, paired with the know-how of a leading Germany pharmacy has allowed shop-apotheke.com over the past six years to establish itself as one of the leading mail-order pharmacies in Germany. The customers benefit from the favorable price, the tremendous product selection, excellent service and the extensive supplementary information on the subject of health. The mail-order pharmacy currently has over 300,000 registered buyers and approx. 2.4 million visits/visitors per month to its website (source: www.ivw.de, March 2009). The company, which has already attained TUV quality certification, has as its goal the expansion of its circle of satisfied customers, and continuing to care for them with innovative ideas and optimal service.
About Medco
Medco Health Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: MHS) is pioneering the world's most advanced pharmacy® and its clinical research and innovations are part of Medco making medicine smarter(TM) for more than 60 million members.
With more than 20,000 employees dedicated to improving patient health and reducing costs for a wide range of public and private sector clients, and 2008 revenue exceeding $51 billion, Medco ranks 45th on the Fortune 500 list and is named among the world's most innovative, most admired and most trustworthy companies.
For more information, go to http://www.medcohealth.com.
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause results to differ materially from those set forth in the statements. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed, and actual results may differ materially from those projected. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Forward-looking statements in this press release should be evaluated together with the risks and uncertainties that affect our business, particularly those mentioned in the Risk Factors section of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
SOURCE Medco Health Solutions, Inc.
