AmerisourceBergen Corporation (ABC) was formed in August 2001 when AmeriSource Health Corporation merged with Bergen Brunswig Corporation.  

The creation of AmerisourceBergen signaled a new era in pharmaceutical services, with a mission focused on building shareholder value by delivering pharmaceutical and healthcare products, services and solutions in innovative and cost effective ways. AmerisourceBergen strives to realize this mission by setting the highest standards in service, reliability, safety and cost containment in the pharmaceutical services industry.

The ABC merger continued the theme of growth through acquisition that defined the history of its two previously independent companies. AmeriSource Health Corporation dates back to 1977, when Cleveland entrepreneur Tinkham Veale entered the drug wholesaling business by forming the Health Services Group of Alco Standard Corporation.  Beginning with the purchase of The Drug House, Alco Standard embarked upon a series of acquisitions to build its pharmaceutical wholesaling presence. By the early 1980s, Alco Health Services was one of the largest wholesale drug distributors in the United States.

In 1989, Alco Standard spun off Alco Health Services in a leveraged buyout. Through strategic acquisitions and expanded product lines, Alco Health boosted its sales and went public as AmeriSource Health Corporation in 1995. AmeriSource continued to increase its geographic reach as well as its span of services by purchasing companies not just in distribution, but also in related areas such as inventory management technology.

By 2000, AmeriSource Health Corporation, with 22 distribution centers and nearly $14 billion in operating revenue, was the fourth largest distributor of pharmaceuticals and related healthcare products and solutions.

Bergen Brunswig had a similar history of mergers and acquisitions as its primary method of growth. Lucien Napoleon Brunswig founded Brunswig Drug Company in 1907, after relocating and renaming a New Orleans-based wholesale drug company to Los Angeles.  In 1969 Brunswig merged with New Jersey-based Bergen Drug Company, a firm founded by Emil Martini in 1947.

Bergen Brunswig Corporation, which went public in 1989, continued to increase its holdings and expand its services by acquiring businesses in related specialty areas, including institutional pharmacy, workers compensation services and specialty pharmaceutical distribution and services.

By 2000, Bergen Brunswig Corporation was the third largest distributor of pharmaceuticals and related healthcare products and solutions, with more than 30 locations in the United States and Puerto Rico. 

The merger of these two industry leaders in 2001 formed AmerisourceBergen Corporation, with 51 distribution centers and approximately $40 billion in annualized operating revenue.  Since then, ABC has built six new, strategically-located,  state-of-the-art distribution facilities, closing older, less efficient facilities in the process.  The Company operates approximately 30 distribution centers today.

The company’s growth strategy includes expanding domestic and international distribution of generic and branded pharmaceuticals; growing domestic and international distribution of specialty pharmaceutical products and related services; and enhancing packaging and other services to the pharmaceutical supply channel worldwide. 

In support of that strategy, ABC has made several acquisitions in recent months.  The Drug Company  acquired two pharmaceutical distributors in Canada, and the Packaging Group purchased the leading contract packager in the United Kingdom.  In addition, the Specialty Group acquired an Atlanta-based provider of accredited physician education and analystical research for the oncology market.       

Today, AmerisourceBergen is the leading company focusing exclusively on the pharmaceutical supply channel, with five business units and more than 13,000 associates in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada and the United Kingdom.  Revenues for fiscal 2005 were $50 billion.

5.15.06