California’s OptumRx, the pharmacy care services business of Optum, and Flint’s Diplomat, a provider of specialty pharmacy and infusion services, are combining. The agreement calls for the acquisition of Diplomat’s outstanding common stock for $4 per share through a cash tender offer and assumption of outstanding debt.
Diplomat brings expertise in managing specialty medications that treat patients with complex diseases. It helps oncology and immunology patients and provides specialized infusion therapies offered in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. The combination is designed to support improved health outcomes and reduced prescription drug costs while helping lower the overall cost of care.
“With its focus in specialty and infusion services, Diplomat has a proven track record of solving the unique challenges facing patients with complex health care needs,” says John Prince, CEO of OptumRx. “This combination will expand the innovative specialty pharmacy and infusion solutions OptumRx can offer to the consumers and clients we serve, helping ensure people get the right medications and services at the right time, in the right setting.”
Diplomat’s board unanimously approved the transaction.
“Since co-founding the company in 1975 with my father, I have had the honor of helping to transform Diplomat into a specialty pharmacy services leader,” says Philip R. Hagerman, chairman emeritus of Diplomat. “This combination will create significant value for Diplomat’s specialty pharmacy consumers and clients, and I look forward to the combined companies’ future success.”
Hagerman and other affiliated people and entities own about 23 percent of the outstanding common stock of Diplomat and have agreed to tender their shares in connection with the offer.
Diplomat partners with payers, providers, hospitals, manufacturers, and more.
OptumRx manages the prescription drug benefits of commercial, Medicare, Medicaid, and other government health plans, as well as those of employers and unions through a national network of 67,000 community pharmacies.
Optum is an information and technology-enabled health services business with more than 135,000 people worldwide dedicated to improving the health system for everyone.