Walgreens Boots Alliance (Nasdaq: WBA) plans to take a position $970 million in Shields Well being Options, which aids each hospitals and well being techniques with specialty pharmacy companies.
It’s one other main transfer for Walgreens, which is attempting to place itself as an all-encompassing well being care behemoth ready for the sector’s near- and long-term developments.
The deal, which is about to shut in February of 2022, would give Walgreens a 71% stake within the Massachusetts-based Shields, with an choice to accumulate the remaining portion of the corporate thereafter.
Walgreens first took curiosity in Shields when it made a minority funding within the firm in 2019.
Just like its $1 billion funding within the value-based main care supplier VillageMD in 2020, the funding in Shields takes Walgreens additional into community-based care and in addition reemphasizes its concentrate on sufferers with complicated wants.
“Delivering pharmacy and healthcare companies in the area people is one in every of some ways WBA is working to enhance entry and well being outcomes, in addition to to decrease the whole price of care,” Roz Brewer, the CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance, stated in a press launch. “We’re persevering with to make strategic investments in pharmacy and well being care options that may construct on our core pharmacy enterprise, and additional develop our well being care attain in communities.”
Within the meantime, Walgreens will work with Shields — in addition to Shields’ different traders, together with Welsh Carson, Anderson & Stowe (WCAS) — to scale its enterprise mannequin by “including complementary provider-based companies to the portfolio over time.” That might definitely imply house well being or house care, each of which match properly with specialty pharmacy companies.
“The Shields mannequin has proven to enhance affected person care, and will probably be complementary to our present specialty pharmacy providing, additional increasing our capabilities to finest meet the wants of well being system companions and sufferers,” Brewer continued.
A few of the largest firms within the nation are at the moment in an arms race to get forward of the place well being care goes within the U.S. Particularly, which means a heightened concentrate on home-based care and senior care, because the 65-and-above inhabitants is projected to double within the subsequent decade, with most preferring to age in place.
Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) and Walmart (NYSE: WMT), as an example, are delving additional into well being care by the month, whereas CVS Well being (NYSE: CVS) stays a direct competitor with related targets.
Every of those firms has additionally immediately or not directly reached additional into the house. As an illustration, Amazon Care — Amazon’s on-demand care platform — is aggressively increasing throughout the nation.
On Walgreens’ finish, VillageMD has frequently touted its means to serve sufferers of their houses and in the neighborhood.
“Shields pioneered the built-in, well being system specialty pharmacy method that has rapidly gained traction within the business,” Shields CEO Lee Cooper stated in a press launch. “In doing so, we’ve got constantly delivered distinctive development and worth by means of a mannequin that analysis reveals results in higher outcomes and high quality of life. WBA’s additional funding in Shields is a validation of our confirmed development technique.”
