CareFusion To Acquire Pharmacy Automation Technology Leader

Acquisition of PHACTS, LLC strengthens CareFusion's end-to-end medication management offering

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Mar 06, 2012, 08:30 ET

SAN DIEGO, March 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- CareFusion today announced an agreement to acquire PHACTS, LLC, a Seattle-based technology and consulting company that helps hospital pharmacies better manage inventory, reduce pharmaceutical costs and streamline operations. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The acquisition will advance CareFusion's strategy to offer hospitals safe and efficient systems to manage medication throughout their facilities – from the loading dock to the patient bedside and through to waste segregation. By adding PHACTS to the company's core Pyxis® dispensing technologies portfolio, CareFusion will be able to provide health systems better visibility into drug inventories, helping to reduce on-hand inventory, streamline staff workflow, manage drug shortages and improve financial performance.

In November 2010, CareFusion announced a global marketing relationship as the exclusive reseller of PHACTS pharmacy inventory management software and automation. Through this partnership, PHACTS expanded its base of customers by 50 percent to more than 200 customers.

"With the addition of PHACTS market-leading products to our portfolio, CareFusion is better positioned to help hospitals realize significant savings, including a reduction in medication inventory on-hand levels by up to 40 percent," said Tom Leonard, president of Medical Systems at CareFusion. "The acquisition will enable us to more directly integrate PHACTS capabilities into our core CareFusion Pyxis technologies and expand our portfolio to further strengthen our comprehensive, end-to-end medication management offering."

PHACTS products include both software and automation solutions for health systems and hospital pharmacies. With PHACTS software, health systems can track drug inventories in near real time across all pharmacy locations, gaining visibility that can help accelerate inventory turns, maintain stock at optimal levels and reduce waste from expired drugs – all resulting in lower medication costs. PHACTS automation helps hospitals efficiently package and label medications, applying barcodes that can improve accuracy at the bedside and helping to increase medication safety.

The PHACTS portfolio includes:

Pharmogistics® pharmacy inventory management software that ties directly into hospital IT systems to track drugs and helps hospitals increase accuracy, simplify workflow processes and improve productivity. Pharmogistics software operates automated carousel hardware for high-density medication storage and retrieval in the hospital pharmacy;
PharmoPack™ high-speed medication packaging and barcode labeling system for oral drugs in solid form; and,
PharmoCode™ barcode labeling system for non-oral medications and devices, such as vials and syringes.

Subject to customary conditions, the acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of CareFusion fiscal year 2012. The acquisition is expected to be neutral to adjusted earnings in the first year and increasingly accretive thereafter.

About PHACTS

PHACTS has more than 35 years of experience in working with pharmacies specializing in pharmaceutical distribution, inventory management, reducing waste and expired medications, pharmacy automation, logistics, workflow process, and barcode medication administration. The company pioneered software to operate pharmacy carousels and manage pharmacy inventory in hospitals.

About CareFusion

CareFusion (NYSE: CFN) is a global corporation serving the health care industry with products and services that help hospitals measurably improve the safety and quality of care. The company develops market-leading technologies including Alaris® infusion pumps, Pyxis® automated dispensing and patient identification systems, AVEA®, AirLife™ and LTV® series ventilation and respiratory products, ChloraPrep® skin prep products, MedMined® services for data mining surveillance, Nicolet™ neurological monitoring and diagnostic products, V. Mueller® surgical instruments, and an extensive line of products that support interventional medicine. CareFusion employs more than 14,000 people across its global operations. More information may be found at www.carefusion.com.

Cautions concerning forward-looking statements

The CareFusion news release and the information contained herein contains forward-looking statements addressing expectations, prospects, estimates and other matters that are dependent upon future events or developments. The matters discussed in these forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected, anticipated or implied. Forward looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about the timing of the anticipated acquisition, the potential benefits and synergies of the anticipated acquisition, including the expected impact on future financial and operating results, and post acquisition plans and intentions. The forward-looking statements contained herein are based on the current expectations and assumptions of CareFusion and not on historical facts. The following important factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements: the satisfaction of conditions to closing the agreement; the risk that the businesses will not be integrated successfully; and the risk that benefits and synergies from the acquisition may not be fully realized or may take longer to realize than expected. Additional factors that may affect future results are described in CareFusion's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended December 31, 2011 and Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2011. Except to the limited extent required by applicable law, CareFusion undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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SOURCE CareFusion